Life We Lived
by 666snoopy
Summary: Sasuke took him away from his life to live where no one could find them. Only Sasuke is his past, present and will do anything to be his future.
1. Chapter 1

**Declaimer: Don't own Naruto.**

Some jutsus used aren't real or don't actually do what I have them doing. SASUNARU, one sided SAKUNARU.

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><p>"Mmm, w-where am I?"<p>

"Naruto, hey Naruto you awake?"

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Sasuke. You ok?"

"Sasuke, what happened?" Naruto mumbled getting up from the forest floor.

"Don't get up. You fainted after some sparring," Sasuke said as he picked up Naruto bridal style. "Let's get inside."

"S-Sasuke, don't treat me like a girl," squealed Naruto trying to get out of Sasuke's arms.

"It's alright if I hold you like this, right? I don't want you to walk around too much," Sasuke asked.

He walked out of the forest that was in the back of Naruto's and Sasuke's home and headed toward the back door.

"Yeah, it's fine," Naruto sighed, holding onto Sasuke tighter.

Getting into the house, Sasuke took Naruto upstairs to their bed and laid him down. The house was a grand two story home, in the secluded part of the Land of Forests country. Though it was known as a criminal hideout, it was just right for what Sasuke needed. He found the area when he first escaped Otogakure after killing Orochimaru and thought it was a perfect place for him and Naruto.

After letting Naruto settle into the bed, Sasuke headed out of the room.

"I'll be back with some ramen and damp cloths, so stay put," Sasuke called as he made his way downstairs to the kitchen to make his boyfriend's favorite food.

"Ok!" Naruto shouted making himself more comfortable on the bed.

When Sasuke got downstairs he set the water on the stove to boil and got out the ramen cup. While waiting for the water Sasuke made his way out the back door. He took his scroll out and performed the seals for a barrier to surround the house and surrounding area about two miles out.

"_Kekkaimon Gofū Jutsu: Hachimon Heijō,"_ Sasuke whispered not too loudly, so Naruto wouldn't hear him. Now that the area is both separated by a river and the gates, it made them invisible to those who happened to pass by.

With the jutsu, four gates would create an invisible barrier and anyone that passed by this part of the forest would just end up on the other side without realizing they went through a jutsu. The same went for the people on the inside; it just keeps them going in circles, that way Naruto doesn't get too far away if he wonders off on his own.

He had let the barrier down earlier to explore beyond the gate and to check if everything was okay while Naruto was inside, but then got distracted about putting it back up when the boy came out wanting to join Sasuke. It had been a risk keeping them down, so Sasuke raised the gates quickly.

He had learned of the jutsu while with Orochimaru. When he saw it, Sasuke thought it would be useful someday and stole the scroll that told him how it's done before he left Otogakure. The barrier was extremely difficult to get at first, because it required a blueprint of the surrounding area and a lot of Sasuke's concentration. He practiced it for months until finally getting it right and knew the barrier would be effective even against the most skilled of ninjas.

Coming back into the house, Sasuke heard the whistle of the kettle and went to pour the water into the ramen cup. While waiting the three minutes for the ramen to get soft, Sasuke went into the bathroom to get wet cloths for Naruto. When the ramen was done, he brought the cup and the damp cloths up to Naruto.

When Sasuke came into the bedroom, he saw that Naruto had fallen asleep. He put the ramen on the night stand and placed one of the damp cloths on Naruto's forehead to cool him down.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto with a smile. What he had done was for the best, he has no regrets and didn't feel shameful in the least. As long as he has Naruto, he doesn't care what had been done to bring them together.

"Hey Naruto, wake up. You have to eat something," Sasuke said while lightly shaking Naruto up from his short nap.

"I don't feel like it," Naruto mumbled after a yawn. Sasuke sighed and grabbed the ramen.

"Fine, you sleep and I'll just eat all this ramen," he smirked when he saw Naruto fly towards the ramen.

"Ok, ok I'm up. Can I have my food now?" Naruto asked with his puppy dog face looking towards Sasuke.

"Yes, you can have it, but only under one condition." Naruto just nodded quickly to Sasuke. "You have to let me feed you," Sasuke said with another smirk on his face.

Naruto blushed and looked down. "F-fine." Naruto opened his mouth to receive his favorite food made by his favorite person.

After Naruto finished the food, Sasuke told him to lay down so he could put another damp cloth on him forehead. Sasuke left the room to throw away the empty cup and put the other cloth in the laundry. As he made his way up, he thought back on how life had become this way. Everything worked out perfectly for him and he never expected to get Naruto to be with him so fast.

_**Flashback**_

_After all these years Naruto would see Sasuke again, without Orochimaru this time too. He was happy and scared at the same time. Happy, because this time was different. Sasuke actually sent a message for him to come. Scared, because he didn't know what to expect. Was Sasuke ready to come back? He sure hoped so._

_Naruto was willing to go alone but once the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, got wind of the message for Naruto to visit Sasuke, she immediately rounded up a team to accompany him. The team consisted of Naruto's teammates Kakashi, Sakura and Sai, as well as Neji, Shikamaru, Lee, and Chōji. Naruto was not happy about the fact that others had to go with him, but he understood the Hokage's concern for him going to see Sasuke alone. He was sure that Sasuke would also understand why they had to bring others along. No one trusted him anymore. _

_Once the team was ready they all set out to the meeting place. They were meeting in the forest that separated northern Konoha and southern Otogakure in a field that neither Konoha nor Otogakure claimed as their own. _

_Naruto held up the front of the group, while everyone else followed him. Sakura came up beside Naruto trying hard to keep up with his pace._

"_Naruto, slow down. I know you're in a hurry, but we can't rush this," Sakura told Naruto as she started to fall behind him. Naruto slowed down a little to allow the others to stay closer behind him._

"_Sorry Sakura," he answered while still not looking her way._

_Sakura smiled and looked over at Naruto. She could see the determination in his eyes, as well as the fear and excitement of finally being able to see their old teammate again. She knew that Sasuke held a bigger part in Naruto's heart than she ever did or ever will and after all this time she was both jealous and envious of Sasuke. _

_She knew it was selfish of her to have Naruto promise to bring Sasuke back. At first she really thought he was working so hard for her, but after some time and when she finally asked him to stop, she knew that it wasn't about her anymore. Naruto wasn't trying to get Sasuke back for anyone else's benefit._

_After that talk with him, she grew fond of Naruto. She let herself realize how great of a person Naruto was and finally found herself falling in love the boy. Sakura already knew it was too late for her to try to pursue Naruto, but she also knew that she could not, at least not anytime soon, let go of that love. That love for him was far beyond any crush she had on Sasuke when they were younger._

_Losing Sasuke was not as hard as she thought it would be, but she couldn't even imagine losing Naruto. That kind of pain was something she hoped to never experience. All she needed was to know that Naruto was safe and close by; that was enough for her to feel content. Her maturity towards this hurt of never being Naruto's number one was held down by the knowledge that she could see the joyous boy almost everyday._

"_Naruto, are you sure about this?" Sakura asked. Even though she knew what Naruto's answer was, she still had to question his choice of meeting the boy that had hurt him so badly over the years. _

"_Yes, Sakura, I'm sure about this. You know that this is what I have been working for. I want Sasuke back home," Naruto answered her with every bit of sincerity in his voice that she would have suspected from him. _

_Even though she knew that Naruto loves Sasuke, she still couldn't help the tightening in her cheat as she heard Naruto talk about Sasuke with love and determination in his words. _

_She smiled, ignoring the tightness that she had grown accustomed to after all the time that had passed. _

"_We'll get him back," Sakura said. Naruto finally turned and smiled at her. "We'll get him back for you Naruto," Sakura whispered to herself when Naruto had turned his head forward and continued jumping though the trees to their destination. _

~oOo~

_Once the group finally arrived at an open field that Sasuke's message told them to meet at; they stopped and surveyed the area. Not trusting the surrounding area Kakashi told half of the large team: Neji, Shikamaru, Lee, and Chōji to stay hidden in the thick of the of trees that surrounded them. _

_Neji searched the area for any sign of Sasuke in the area and could not see him or anyone else. He radioed to the other four in the field that Sasuke was not in the immediate area and would watch if anyone came close. _

_Shikamaru, Lee, and Chōji stood not too far away in the trees waiting for any movement to indict that someone was there._

"_Are we sure about this?" asked Chōji as he waited impatiently for anything to happen. Forgetting that the radio was on, Naruto answered them instantly._

"_If you don't want to be here, then leave. He didn't call any of you, just me," Naruto growled out getting aggravated that they would be questioning their mission when they were already here. _

_Chōji remained silent for a moment and felt bad that he had voiced his thoughts. _

"_I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't mean it like-" all that was heard through the radio was static as the radio connect was cut off. _

"_Hey, you guys. What's going on out there?" asked Kakashi. When there was no reply, Kakashi asked Sai to go out and see what had happened to the rest of the group. _

_As Sai left, the other's were getting a little nervous thinking that something might have happened to them almost right when they all had gotten there._

_Sai arrived shortly at the location of the group and hiss at what he saw. Looking up at dark eyes Sai tried radioing a warning back to the rest._

"_Guys, get-" his connection dying before he could finish._

"_Sai? Sai! What the hell is happening?" Kakashi shouted, but received no answer. _

_Even without the finished warning, they all knew that something bad had happened and that they were not safe in the location they were in. But before any of them made a move to get to their other teammates, _he_ appeared._

_Sasuke stood in front of his old teammates and examined how they all changed. After all these years, they had all matured into adults, but he could still see that they had not outgrown their childlike emotions at seeing him. Naruto seemed on the verge of tears, but held back. It surprised Sasuke to see the determination in his eyes and he was rewarded by the boys voice calling his name._

"_S-Sasuke," Naruto said in a low voice. _

_Sasuke's eyes were only fixated on him and he had forgotten completely that the other two were standing on either side of Naruto until one decided to speak._

"_Sasuke, what did you do to the others," Kakashi questioned knowing that whatever was going on involved him._

"_I don't know what you mean. Where there others with you?" Sasuke played ignorant as he was irritated at being brought out of the gaze that he held with Naruto._

"_I know you did something" Kakashi said with more strength behind his words. He hesitated asking what was really on his mind as to the whereabouts and condition of the rest of the team, but Sasuke seemed to sense his thoughts and answered. _

"_Don't worry, I didn't kill them. They were just in the way, so I got them out of the way," Sasuke answered casually. _

_Naruto and Sakura remained silent the whole time as the two exchanged words. Naruto could not believe how much Sasuke had changed and yet was the same as he had remembered him. He looked more developed physically, but carried himself with the same confidence and coldness that they were used too. _

_It had been six years since he had left Konoha and three since Naruto or any of his other teammates had seen him. Naruto felt like crying with happiness at seeing Sasuke again and Sakura felt like crying for an entirely different reason. _

_She knew that Naruto would be happy to see Sasuke, but she hoped that Sasuke would keep his face of indifference when he saw Naruto and would treat him as he treated others; with cold eyes that never betrayed any emotion. But what she say was only something that someone who loved another so deeply would notice. Though Sasuke tried to hide it, that split second that she saw his face change at the sight of Naruto, she knew of Sasuke's feelings for Naruto were not only one sided on Naruto's part like she had allowed herself to hope. _

_Kakashi's questioning had stopped and they stood there as the three looked at Sasuke and Sasuke just stared at Naruto. He smirked and saw the flinch that they were unable to hide. They knew what he was capable of and the realization that he might had just single handedly taken out five people of their team made them unable to hide their discomfort. _

"_What is it that you want from me, Sasuke?" Naruto asked after their long pause. _

"_Simple really. I want you," Sasuke said, as he heard both Naruto and Sakura gasp at his declaration. Sakura knew what he meant and now had evidence that her previous suspicious was correct, but Naruto seemed to misunderstand what Sasuke was implying._

"_If you want me dead then go ahead and try, but I'm bringing you back home Sasuke," Naruto said as he crouched into a fighting stance ready for what was to come. _

_Sasuke smirk deepened as he saw Naruto ready himself. He was excited to see that Naruto still had that determination to bring him back, but it was not the reason he had asked Naruto to meet. Though he was annoyed with the others for being there, they were only minor distractions that he could rid himself of easily._

"_I don't have a home, Naruto. I'm not going back to Konoha, you are coming with me. Instead, you are coming with me." Kakashi immediately moved in front of Naruto to protect him from whatever Sasuke was planning to do. _

_Naruto was too shocked to answer and just stared at his three teammates. Sakura could not hold her tongue any longer for she saw that the situation would get worse in no time._

"_I won't let you take him away. He will never leave the village and people behind to come with you Sasuke," Sakura spoke seeing as Naruto was still unable to answer. _

_Sasuke finally looked over at Sakura and frown. He could see and hear the courage in her eyes and voice and also saw the love that she had for Naruto that she tried to hide. He knew it would have happened sooner or later, but that was not going to stop him from what he was planning to do. _

"_Sakura, you're grown over the years," Sasuke said making useless conversation as to try to distract them. _

_Kakashi could see what he was doing and was going to intervene, but Naruto finally got his voice back. _

"_Sasuke, w-what do you want with me?" Naruto asked as his confusion became clear on his face. _

_Sasuke didn't speak, instead his impassive face returned and he activated the Mangekyō Sharingan that he acquired after his brother's dead. No one was able to react in time and all three of their bodies dropped as Sasuke pulled them into an illusion that would render them useless for a while, even after the illusion was deactivated. _

_He had done nothing further to the other's that were in the woods and was somewhat expecting more from his former team. Just as he was making his way towards Naruto, Kakashi's body dissipated and a kunai speed towards Sasuke. He easily dodged it and looked over to see Kakashi standing off to the left side of the field. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in annoyance and wonder as to how Kakashi was able get out of his illusion. Almost as if he could hear Sasuke's silent question, he answered it for him._

"_You're not the only one with the Mangekyō Sharingan, Sasuke," Kakashi told him. _

_Sasuke didn't care how exactly he used his Dōjutsuto (eye technique) to get out of the attack, but he wasn't going to be phased by the knowledge that Kakashi had developed his own version of the Mangekyō Sharingan. It wasn't going to stop him for a moment. _

_Sasuke knew that Kakashi was not fast enough to get a clone in place when he activated his illusion, so his escape had something to do directly with Kakashi's eyes. Being careful to avoid eye contact now, not wanting to see what would happen if both of nin's eyes connected in a gaze, Sasuke looked slightly away and chose to attack with only some aid from his eyes. _

_Kakashi knew that Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan was stronger, so he immediately looked away from them. He also knew he was the only one standing in the way of Sasuke getting to Naruto, making Sasuke more determined and less caring of what would happen to his old sensei. But that also made Kakashi want to fight harder so he would not lose another one of his former students. _

_Escaping the first and what Sasuke must have thought was going to be his only attack didn't take much thought from Kakashi's part, but it did drain much of Kakashi's chakra. The Mangekyō Sharingan that Kakashi wielded had the ability to manipulate space and in that split second he was able to send Sasuke's illusion jutsu into another dimension. He knew that he would not be able to last long in this fight and to save Naruto, he would have to fight as if wanting to kill Sasuke. _

_Kakashi and Sasuke clashed in a blink of an eye. Swinging their kunai's so fast that the fight was a blur, all that could be heard was the clinging of their weapons. The fist came so fast towards Kakashi that he barely had time to move out of it's way and ended up hesitating enough for Sasuke to send a powerful hit to his abdomen that slammed Kakashi into a tree. Kakashi slowly picked himself up, still weak from escaping Sasuke's initial attack and now this one. As the tree behind him fell over from the force of the collision, Kakashi looked over at Sasuke. _

"_Why are you doing this, Sasuke? You must have known that other's would come with him and that you would have to get rid of us before you could get to Naruto. Were you fully prepared to kill anyone that stood in your way?" Kakashi asked while both were shortly catching their breathes. _

"_Of course I knew you guys were coming, but as you can see I took out most of your team in no time and I don't have to waste my breath killing them. You are the only one in my way and trust me you will not stop me from getting Naruto," Sasuke answered as he got ready for his next attack. _

_Appearing in front of Kakashi, Sasuke channeled his Chidori Current into his fist and swung at him, but this time Kakashi was ready for it and got out of the way and appeared behind Sasuke. _

"_Don't do this," Kakashi urged, pressing a kunai against Sasuke's throat. _

_Sasuke was surprised by the quick move, but wouldn't expect anything less from his former sensai. He knew he could redirect his Chidori Current through the kunai potentially killing Kakashi, but stopped short when Kakashi continued to speak. _

"_You don't need him. I'll let you just leave, just not with him." Kakashi told him with the full intent of letting Sasuke go if that would mean that Naruto would not be taken away. Instead of disappearing quickly as Kakashi hoped, Sasuke spoke to his old sensei. _

"_That's where you're wrong, Kakashi. I do need him," he said, murmuring the last bit, but it was enough for Kakashi to hear._

"_Why?" Kakashi asked desperately._

"_Because I love him," Sasuke answered honestly._

_With the new information, Kakashi hesitated and pulled the kunai slightly away from Sasuke's neck. Sasuke looked down at the weapon and met Kakashi's widened eyes in the reflection._

"_I'm sorry," Sasuke said softly as his illusion started to take hold of Kakashi and instantly he dropped to the ground. _

_**End Flashback**_

"Naruto!" Sakura shouting, startling herself awake from the nap she had taken while resting against a tree. She was waiting for her team to meet her.

Looking around, she knew that Naruto was not there nor any sign of her students. It had been around two years since Sasuke had taken Naruto away from the village and the memories of that day still hunt her dreams.

After everything had happened and she woke up in the hospital only to learn that Naruto did not come back with the team, she changed. Not longer was Sakura focusing on working as a medical nin, because that would not help bring Naruto back. She tried to wait on the side lines while others went to chase any leads that would help find Naruto, but the feeling of uselessness was too much.

When she went to go talk to Lady Tsunade about what more she could do, the Hokage let it be known that the tracker nins had everything under control. That statement did not appease her so she stated that she wanted to become a tracker nin as well. The Hokage tried to persuade her to rethink her decisions, but Sakura wouldn't let up and only when a compromise was made did the Hokage agree to it.

Sakura would only be a tracker nin until Naruto was found and was then to restart her training as a medical nin right away.

Almost the next day Sakura began training as a tracker and in a short time became extremely good at it. She was given a team of genin and with them she had never failed a mission. There was only the exception of finding Naruto or anything that would led her to him that always kept her from acknowledging that she could do a greater job at being a tracker nin then most others.

Standing up from her previous resting area, Sakura continued to remember the day that she felt like a part of her was ripped away.

The village was in an uproar when the team came back without Naruto. Tsunade had yelled at their inability to keep Naruto safe from Sasuke and set all ninjas that were free to look for him. After months of searching and with nothing to show for it, Tsunade was forced to reduce the amount of nins that were looking for Naruto. She only took action when any information came to them instead of anyone looking for anything that would help find the boy.

Sakura had thought that most of the villagers would be happy to see Naruto gone, but she was wrong. Once the villagers got wind that Naruto was missing, everyone became scared that Konaha was not protected anymore. Naruto had become an extremely powerful ninja and to have him disappear from the village so easily had the villagers thinking the worse.

Tsunade had to hold a village meeting to ensure the people that they were still safe in their homes and that the kidnapping of Naruto would not led to any danger to the village. She sounded more convincing then she felt. She knew that Sasuke would not be the danger, but that there would be other villages that would take advantage of the situation.

Her fear was realized when she learned that once the other villages knew that Naruto was gone, they all set out to find the jinchuuriki. Not for the purpose of helping the Konoha, but to get to the power that they knew Naruto had deep inside him. They searched for Naruto almost as hard as Konaha did, but after the first couple of months they gave up almost completely when it seemed useless.

Tsunage was relieved to hear that the other villages gave up on looking for Naruto, but at the same time hoped that he would be found soon. When the ninjas that were chosen to look for Naruto were reduced, Tsunade had told Sakura that she was not to go on her own looking for Naruto either. There was a lot of shouting, but in the end Sakura stopped using any free time she had to go out of the village and gather any information on Naruto's whereabouts.

She sighed getting rid of the unwanted memories. The only thing that was keeping her going was that she knew from the expression that she saw in Sasuke's eyes that Naruto was safe.

She'll keep her hope that he will come back to the village someday.

"Sensei?" Sakura turned as she heard her team members voice.

Sakura saw their worried expression and smiled to reassure them that she was okay. Her team was assigned to her a year ago and she had gotten to know them well.

The one that spoke to her was named Daisuke. He reminded her so much of Sasuke, with his dark hair and his even darker eyes that she almost wanted to punch him in the face the first time she saw him. Luckily, she stopped herself and after hearing him speak to her she knew he was nothing like Sasuke. Daisuke had a hard childhood growing up and from all that had happened to him, he learned to respect everyone around him and was one of the most trustworthy people that anyone would ever meet. He was also a very skilled ninja that quickly became the leader of the team.

Standing next to the boy was a girl named Reika. She seemed like a handful and she most defiantly was. She knew how to speak her mind and she would only listen when something was worth listening too. When Sakura first met her, she thought that the girl would rebel against her and ignore everything she said, but Sakura was surprised that the girl listened to any instruction that was given by any of her teammates. With her short, bleach blonde almost white hair that framed her face and deep hazel eyes, Reika was an attractive enough girl who didn't care much about appearance and a ninja that was a vital part of the team.

Lastly, standing of the other side of Daisuke, was Kiyoshi who Sakura thought Daisuke had a crush on. He was a lovely boy, nothing like she would have thought after seeing his bright smile, blonde hair and golden eyes. He knew when to be a follower and when to be a leader. He would follow his team into any mission no matter how hard and he made it known that he cared for his teammates by either thanking them for being there for him or even hugging them. That being the reason why Sakura had thought that Diasuke liked him; he would blush like crazy whenever Kiyoshi would give him one of those hugs.

Her teammates knew of her connection to Naruto and that when he came back she would no longer be their sensei. They were prepared for it and would try to welcome any new sensei that came.

She had gone through a lot over the years, but they never talked about it which she was thankful for. Sakura was also thankful that they never complained when she would sometimes diverge from a mission to look into anything that could be of any use in finding Naruto. Even with that, they knew that she would always get the mission done no matter how distracted she would become.

"Hello guys. Ready to train?" Sakura asked already seeing her team pairing up and going out into the field to test their skills. She smiled as she watched the two boys fighting. She knew that Naruto would be proud of what she had made of herself and only wished that he was here to see her accomplishments.

~oOo~

"Sasuke, we have to go out today. I don't want to stay home all day," Naruto said as he made his way over to the couch with two cups of hot tea.

Setting them down on the table and sitting next to Sasuke, Naruto looked over to see that Sasuke had a frown on his face. Every time Naruto mentioned getting out of the forest to go shopping or do something entertaining, Sasuke would use the excuse that Naruto's body was not strong enough to allow for a trip from their home that day. It got on Naruto's nerves for sometime, but he understood his lovers concern.

Though, even knowing that his body might not be up for the task, Naruto could not stay in the house forever. He needed to get out once in a while and nothing was going to stop him from going to a shop he knew had just opened. From the last time they went out together, he explored many of the shops and talked to some of the locals to learn that they were opening up a new market that was to have the freshest of ingredients.

Naruto loved to cook, since he was suck in the house a lot, so learning that a market was going to have fresh ingredients daily excited him to the point of wanting to see the place for himself.

Sasuke knew about the new market and wasn't comfortable about going when he had yet to check the place out for himself.

"Maybe I could just go and you can tell me what you need. There is no reason for you to go all the way out there when you just fainted the day before," Sasuke urged Naruto to change him mind about the trip, but even as he was talking he knew Naruto would not budge in his discussion to go.

"I should have never let it get that far when I knew that you couldn't take it," Sasuke sighed with obvious concern in his voice.

That concern made Naruto hesitate a little. The training was his idea in the first place. He would always see Sasuke out in the field in their backyard, trying to get stronger and more powerful and he wanted to do it too. He doesn't try often, because he gets tried quickly and doesn't seem to have much chakra to allow for him to do very much, but he liked the feeling of his muscles expanding and contracting while he trained and the burning sensation he got when he had exercised for a certain period of time.

The other day, Naruto wanted to try to fight Sasuke and told him not to hold back. Sasuke wouldn't go to his full power, which Naruto was not sure what it was, but they did fight intensely and for a long time. After Sasuke dodged one of his punches, Naruto's body following the momentum of his fist and he fell with it. When he landing on the ground, he had already been unconscious.

Still seeing the worried look on Sasuke's face, Naruto turned to get him mind off of the fact that he was going against what his love wanted. He had to get out of the house. Naruto's last visit to the nearest village was about a month ago and he needed to see what had changed since he was last out. Sasuke would always go to the stores to buy anything they needed when he was taking a nap after he ate or even at random times of the day, because his body would sometimes chose to become extremely exhausted even when he wasn't doing much.

"Please, Sasuke." Naruto pleaded, "I really want to get out of the house today and walking around the forest doesn't seem like much fun. If I even slightly feel tired, then we could come back right away." Naruto told him while sporting a pouty face that Sasuke could barely resist. Sasuke sighed and knew it was time to give up a losing battle, plus Naruto's expression was just too adorable to ignore.

"Fine. But if I see that you look tired, we are heading back right away. Even if I have to carry you back," Sasuke said while smirking at the blush that spread on Naruto's face.

"Thank you Sasuke. I'm so excited. I'll go get ready right away." Kissing Sasuke on the lips, Naruto sprang off the couch and into his room to get ready.

Sasuke got up and took the two cups of forgotten tea that had cooled down while they had been talking and poured them out into the sink. He knew that it was a risk to take Naruto away from the security of the forest, but even though Naruto's memory of his old life was forgotten he was still the same person that Sasuke fell in love with.

Naruto was never sure how they got to the town, but felt that he just didn't pay close enough attention and always happened to walk upon it before he knew it, so he never questioned it. It was actually across a river and a little ways into the next country, but Sasuke would not let Naruto know that they were actually far away from any connect with the outside world.

As they made there way around town, people didn't remember Naruto at all but he learned to get over it quickly. People here never seemed to remember him when he came back, even when they talked to him for a long time on his visits. He got used to it and kept telling himself not to make friends with these people, but he always managed to strike up a conversation with someone and end up wishing to talk to them again the next time he visited.

As much as Sasuke dreaded going into this small town, he was happy to see Naruto interacting with others so happily, even if they won't remember him the next time he came by. Sasuke could not risk these villager's telling anyone that asked if they have seen anyone even closely resembling the boys, so it was necessary for him to erase any knowledge of them being here.

He knew that Naruto was sad that the people didn't know who he was when he came back, but erasing Naruto's memory of these people would be harder on him than Sasuke thought he could handle. Thinking that no one else was out there that he knew would make Naruto go crazy, so the small amount of sadness that he felt at first was something that Sasuke could deal with to get Naruto from feeling absolutely alone.

"They don't remember me again," Naruto said with a sad smile and acceptance in his eyes. No matter what he still had to stop himself from hoping.

"Naruto?" Sasuke looked at Naruto, but couldn't say more as he saw Naruto had started walking into the market. It was tightly packed with many booths that had various different fruits, vegetables and other fresh items for his choosing.

Naruto walked over to the nearest booth that was selling fresh fruits and picked out a few ingredients that would be perfect for a fruit salad or pie. Turning around, Naruto saw Sasuke was behind him and told him to pay the guy so he can go on to the next area.

After shopping around for a few hours, Naruto and Sasuke carried their large amounts of bags into a small cafe and sat down.

"Man, that was a great day of shopping. I got so much and talked to so many people," Naruto said with excitement.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. After we get something here, you ready to head back?" Sasuke asked with a smile creeping onto his face. Even though he wasn't happy coming out here, seeing Naruto's face always made the trip worth the risk.

Naruto nodded to his question as Sasuke looked up at the waiter that was making his way over to the couple. Smiling down, Sasuke noticed that there was flash of remembrance in the waiters eyes. Sasuke tensed, thinking that the man would say something that would tip off Naruto. Instead, he just asked what the couple wanted and walked away with a more strained smile on his face.

Sasuke knew that over the years, the jutsu that he used on the villagers might be less effective but for some reason this kid always seemed to have that look on his face when he saw them. Like he knew who they were, but never said anything because he wasn't sure what he was seeing was really true. Sasuke always tensed when he saw him knowing that if he said anything he would never bring Naruto in town again and this village would only be a lost memory to them both as well as they would be to the village, but so far nothing had happened.

As they drank their coffees and Naruto ate his lemon tart, Sasuke was watching out for anything out of the ordinary that might have changed since they were last here together. He saw the same patrons, same workers and that nothing set off any bells.

"That was great! I always love their desserts," Naruto said happily as Sasuke was paying the bill and getting up to leave.

Sasuke looked back into the cafe and saw the same waiter looking at them with confused and concentrating eyes. He sent a warning glare that made the boy break his concentration and look away as he followed Naruto out the door. As they got to the edge of town, Sasuke told Naruto to look at him.

"Are you feeling okay? Do you feel tired?" Sasuke asked with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm feeling a little tired,but I think I can make it home this time." As Naruto finished his sentence, he could feel himself going under and seconds later he was out.

Sasuke put him on the ground slowly and turned to look out at the village. He had this village already sealed and started to perform the proper hand signs to erase the villagers memories. Though the seal was meant for him to be inside of it to work, he figured out that sending a clone to do part of the work would allow the job to be done without having to sacrifice his memories. To the villagers, their visit would be just a vague dream and nothing more.

Coming up to their room, Sasuke settled Naruto onto the bed and walked out to put all the items that they bought in their right places. He knew that Naruto would be out for some time so he decided to do the cooking for tonight. Though Naruto loves to cook, he also loves to see that Sasuke cooked for him. It made him feel special to wake up to the house smelling like the amazing food Sasuke managed to create and see that there was something that his love had cooked for him.

A couple hours later Sasuke had a big meal ready and just as he was finished setting up the table he sensed Naruto waking up. Naruto walked down the stairs following the aroma of the dinner that Sasuke made.

"Mmm, something smells really goo," Naruto said with a smile on his face. "I can't wait to dig in." He walked up to Sasuke and gave him a kiss on the lips that lasts a moment, but felt like eternity.

"I'm glad to see you up. Are you alright after your nap?" Sasuke asked as he served Naruto one of the fresh fish he grilled up.

Naruto helped himself to all the sides that were offered before answering Sasuke's question, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry I always manage to pass out after we go into town. I must have been more exhausted than I thought."

Sasuke smiled as Naruto started to eat. The guilt that he used to feel from knowing the cause of Naruto's weaken had subsided, but would never entirely go away. But he knew to keep Naruto he couldn't let the Kyubbi even have a chance to be known to Naruto.

At first it was hard to fight the big beast inside Naruto and to completely get him separated from Naruto's consciousness, but working with the Akatsuki with the pretense that the jutsu he was working on was for their benefit Sasuke was able to perfect it. It only took a week for Naruto to forget the life he lived without Sasuke and allow the memories of them together to be imbedded into his mind, even those that never happened.

Sasuke put stories of Naruto's and Sasuke's childhood in the boys head that could never be true, but Sasuke felt they were necessary in making Naruto believe that they were meant to be together forever. Naruto thought that the two meant in grade school and later became closer when their fathers would always visit, because they had been great friends. Then as they grew older and closer to one another, they were their for each other when Sasuke's parents died in a car accident and Naruto's died in a house fire a few years later. Sasuke never told him that he had an older brother and made sure that Naruto thought they only had each other.

It was easy enough for Sasuke to begin to love his life with Naruto and Naruto to love and trust Sasuke. Sasuke knew that he had done the right thing every time he saw the love of his life smiling at him. The way they live might have not been the most ideal, but Sasuke told Naruto that he loved seclusion and with Naruto's health, it was not the best idea to interact with too many people.

Naruto accepted it as another part of his memory; the forest was the place where they belonged. He also knew that he would never be able to find a way out since he had walked forever one time and never got anywhere. It felt strange to him that Sasuke showed up in front of him after his long walk, but he trusted Sasuke enough to know that he must have been following Naruto so the boy could eventually be led home. He was never sure how far he went because he woke up at home after figuring that he fainted again.

With dinner finished and cleaned up, Sasuke told Naruto to go find a movie and he would make some popcorn. As Naruto sat on the couch, Sasuke slipped out the glass doors in the kitchen and outside to check that everything was stable.

Even after all these years out here in the forest, Sasuke was still paranoid that the gates were not working and had to go out every night to make sure they were still preventing people from knowing that they took up this area of the forest.

After a good check, he came back and as the popcorn finished its popping he spilled the contains into a bowl. Coming into the living room, Sasuke saw Naruto sitting on the couch waiting for him. As he sat down Naruto took a handful of the popcorn and they settled down to watch the movie.

~oOo~

The waiter from the cafe Naruto and Sasuke visited couldn't shake off the feeling that he was losing his memory or at the very least part of it. He felt like something was preventing him from accessing part of himself and he didn't know if he was just thinking too much or if something really was wrong.

On the other side of town, a team of Konoha nin came into the village to rest. Going into the nearest inn, the team settled down for a good nights sleep knowing they would need to be ready to head out in the morning.

~oOo~

Sasuke woke up before Naruto as he usually did and walked into the bathroom to get his day started. Most of the time all he would do was either get dressed and wait for Naruto to wake up so they could make breakfast together or he would go ahead and make it by himself.

Since they had a their trip to town the other day, he decided to make the meal himself again so Naruto could wake up to the fresh small of french toast, eggs and bacon.

"Wow, you made us a meal again. I always love your cooking," Naruto said as he was waking up to the smells of the kitchen.

Sasuke turned to see Naruto heading to the cabinet to get cups to pour in the orange juice he had placed on the table. "Glad to hear it," Sasuke answered with a small smile turned smirk as they dug into breakfast.

"So, what did you want to do today? I was thinking maybe a walk," Naruto started as he was grabbing for more food.

Sasuke didn't like the idea of Naruto going out again and made his views knew to the boy.

"But I don't want to stay in here all day. I want to get out more, even if it is not the best thing for my health" Naruto counter trying to make Sasuke see it from his point of view.

Sasuke always knew that keeping Naruto in the house and in this secluded forest would get to him, but kinda hoped that it would be a little later rather than sooner. Naruto was not feeling as bad as he used to when his faint spells would come, so he was asking to go out more and more.

When they had first got here and Sasuke placed him under the jutsu, Naruto would get so sick and tired that he wouldn't be able to get out of bed for days. He knew that he couldn't strengthen the jutsu on the boy without fear of hurting him so he had to deal with Naruto getting his strength back, even if it was just a little. Now instead of passing out every couple of hours, his faints were more random and sparse. Sometimes, like the trip from town, Sasuke would even have to put him under.

"You can't go out today Naruto, I need to go into town and check out somethings," Sasuke explained knowing that he just decided to do that that very moment.

"What? Why do you have to go? Can't I can with you than?" Naruto pleaded as the questions kept coming.

Sasuke held up his hand to stop the boy from asking anymore and answered him.

"Because I don't think your health will take the amount of time I will be gone. I can't leave you alone there as well," Sasuke told him knowing that an argument would come.

"Stop going on about my health! That's your only argument when I ask to go out!" Naruto yelled getting sick of the topic always being brought up.

"That's all the argument I need Naruto. You are so important to me and I don't want anything to happen to you. Please don't question me on this," Sasuke begged hoping that Naruto would let it go.

He saw the sadness in his lovers eyes and Naruto knew that he wouldn't argue about the subject anymore. There was never a point, but he always found himself fighting it even if it was just for a moment.

"Fine, I'll stay in the house all day. When do you think you will be back? In time for lunch or dinner?"

"Probably closer to lunch. I shouldn't be too long," Sasuke explained as he got up to wash the dishes from their breakfast.

Naruto signed, he hated when Sasuke would go on out to town on his own. He never questioned it after the first time when Sasuke looked at him with the most serious look on his face and asked him never to question what he does. Naruto decided that whatever it was would be best left unanswered and just had a sad smile on his face whenever he would leave.

"Okay, well have fun with whatever you are doing. I'll just stay here like a good little wife," Naruto mocked as Sasuke was heading out the door.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from my homemaker," Sasuke chuckled at the pout that showed on the younger boys face. Sasuke smiled and kissed Naruto before closing the door.

Naruto walked to the living room to see if he could clean anything up while Sasuke was gone or if he could just lounge while the boy was out. Deciding that he would just make himself comfortable on the couch, Naruto put in movie and sat down for some non-relaxation without Sasuke.

As Sasuke walked out of the house, he made sure to seal all the doors and windows so Naruto would not be able to get out. He didn't like barracking the boy in the house, but after the last time when he found Naruto unconscious after walking around for a while he decided that Naruto might not actually listen to him as much as he thought.

Naruto figured out that he was locked in the house soon after and was extremely mad, but got over it since Sasuke kept reminding him of what happened before.

~oOo~

The Konoha team woke up early and packed their things for the trip back home. They had retrieved a scroll from an ally country close to this village and were heading back to Konoha before they decided to stop here to rest. They had gotten the scroll a day earlier than needed and decided to take a breather before heading out again.

"Let's stop by and get something to eat before we officially leave. I don't want to eat anything that the inn is serving so we might as well go look around," one of the teammates said as they finished packing.

Leaving their things there to grab when they were ready to get out of the village and with the scroll securely on their person, they headed outside to check out the village that they had stayed in. They were in civilian clothing and covered their chakra to lessen their exposer to the other villagers knowing that these people would know nothing about their world.

The village was a small tight knit community that seemed to center around a newly opened market. Passing up all the booths and people shuffling around to buy the best the market had to offer, they finally found a small cafe where they could grab a decent meal.

As they sat down and looked over the menu, a waiter came up to them and asked what they would like to drink. They ordered drinks and food right away and started to make conversation about random things that got them away from thinking about the mission. Even in these parts, they never knew who was listening so they stuck to things that didn't relate to their business.

The waiter came back minutes later with drinks and as he was putting it down, looked up and out the window. "Sasuke?" the waiter mumbled softly feeling like the name was foreign to his lips.

The Konoha ninjas all stopped and looked up thinking they heard something that should not have passed through the guys lips.

"Excuse me, what did you say young man?" one of them asked, thinking that she was hearing things just as the others were thinking.

The waiter shook his head and his eyes went back from the blank stare to a more pleasing gleam, "I'm sorry, here are your drinks and your meal is on its way." The waiter smiled as he walked away.

The four teammates looked at each other and shrugged it off as nothing more than their ears playing tricks on them because they wanted to desperately hear news of that man and the one he had taken from them.

-o-

Sasuke walked around the village and went to their only post office, if you could even call it that. He would come to town every once in a while to check and make sure that nothing about them were in the towns paper. He had never found anything more than a description of a boy being kidnapped the first week he was there, but after that he never stopped looking in on the village.

He than spent some time making sure that the people of the village were living normally and without suspicion. Though the people were all civilians, Sasuke still masked his chakra so the feeling of remembrance would not potentially come over any of them.

Sasuke made sure to swiftly walk by the cafe and to not come across the waiter again, just in case any of the vague dreams about his previous day were still in his mind. He stayed away from this place for long periods of time so they could forget about them completely and nothing could trigger their memories. It would have been more reassuring if Naruto didn't go around introducing them to everyone that he could though.

-o-

The team picked up their things from the inn and started to head out towards Konoha. Speeding out of the village, one of the teammates were still thinking about what happened in the cafe. He knew that he must have heard it, he could just tell that no one wanted to make it into anything that it wasn't.

Not paying attention, the Konoha nin lost his footing and slid over the ground, picking up dirt and debris as he went.

"Ouch, damn it," Kiba said as he finally stopped five feet later in front of the tree that prevented him from going any further.

"Nice job, smart one. What were you doing to happen to fall like that?" Ino asked him as she stood next to her fallen teammate.

"Something got in my way. I didn't fall out of no where," he replied pretending that his own footing was not the cause of this embarrassment.

As Ino was about to retort back, one of the others stopped them from going any further into their argument.

"Guys, take a look at this," Shikamaru voiced as he bent over to look at the dirt.

"What is it?" the ever quiet Shino asked, as he looked over his teammates shoulder.

Shikamaru brushed off more of the dirt and looked closely. "I think it's a seal," he spoke softly, not believing it himself.

Just then the team looked up and the whole town glowed for an instant, but it was enough for them to see what happened. They all looked at each other and knew that they weren't just hearing thinks back in the cafe. All of them turned and rush back to Konoha.

~oOo~

Sasuke walked back into the house in a hurry. He knew what he saw after performing the memory erasing seal on the villagers. Though they were safe in this area, he didn't want to take any risks.

The nins that were speeding away were easily recognizable by Sasuke's eyes even though he had only a moment to see them. He eyes had widened for a split second, than went back to his calm self. Retreating quickly as possible to the place he called home, Sasuke needed to see Naruto.

"Hey, you're back already. I just finished making lunch and just in case had made something for you too," Naruto smiled at Sasuke as he placed the freshly made sandwiches and a bag a chips that he knew Sasuke loved to eat with this meal on the table in the living room.

"Y-yeah." Sasuke cleared his throat trying to speak again, "Hn, what would you have done if I didn't get back in time?" He smiled looked at the plates on the table.

"I would have waited for you. I know you'll always come back," Naruto said making Sasuke catch his breath for an instant. The boy really knew how to pull his heart strings without even realizing it.

Finally settling down on the couch and picking up his lunch, Sasuke asked with a lighthearted voice, "How were you while I was gone, anything exciting happen?"

"Oh, so exciting! I watched a movie, than some comic show that was on, cleaned up a little and finally made lunch. A full and busy day if I do say so myself," Naruto answered with a wide grin and sarcasm evident in his voice as he seated himself on the couch and started stuffing his sandwich in his mouth.

Sasuke chuckled, "Well, I'll make sure to leave you alone more often so I won't bother you."

Naruto pouted and looked away, "I don't want you to leave ever again."

Sasuke's eyes soften and though he knew it was just joking around, his heart thumped harder hearing those words. Setting down the two plates, Sasuke looked over at Naruto and spoke quietly, "Promise me something."

"Anything," Naruto smiled welcoming Sasuke's embrace.

"Whatever happens, you will still stand by my side," he replied with emotions in his eyes that Naruto only saw when they made love and Sasuke would tell him over and over again that he loved him.

In the heat of those moments, Naruto thought Sasuke was messing with him to get him blushing and looking away in embarrassment. But now, seeing it outside of the bedroom, Naruto could not look away and answered without hesitation.

"I would never leave you Sasuke."

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Will be a week or so till next one is out.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Declaimer: Still doesn't own Naruto.**

Some jutsus used are **not** real or do what they **aren't **supposed to do. SASUNARU

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Naruto could not look away and answered without hesitation._

"_I would never leave you Sasuke."_

* * *

><p>"What in gods name is going on? Did you all feel the need to break down my door?" Tsunade yelled as the Konoha nin noticed the off skew doorway that had been trampled on in their rush to reach the Hokage.<p>

"We are very sorry Hokage Tsunade-sama, but we have urgent news that we needed to get to you," Ino replied taking off her mask and speaking in a professional manner.

"What about? Did something happen on the mission?" Tsunade asked holding back her tongue in wonderment as to why all the teammates were removing their masks without being given permission to do so.

"We have information on Sasuke that we really need to get a team together and go check on," answered Kiba as he finally allowed himself to catch his breath.

Tsunade signed, knowing where this was all going. Though she highly respected the team in front of her, she could not let herself perk up at every piece of information that could lead to Naruto when it always ends in disappointment.

"Look guys, I'm happy that you all want to find the both of them, but you can't be running around when you are on missions when they don't amount to anything," Tsunade pleaded trying to keep her voice even when she felt that her words were more true than she wished to believe.

"Kiba is right, Lady Tsunade-sama. There is some evidence that we could not ignore and that have to be further investigated. I think they will lead us to information about Sasuke and Naruto," Shikamaru spoke trying to convince her that this was not another one of their wild goose chases.

Tsunade saw the determination in their eyes, but couldn't let herself hope. Before she could speak though, the last of their teammates finally spoke up.

"Lady Tsunade-sama, we heard one of the waiters at a cafe we visited say Sasuke's name. It was as if he was in a daze and didn't even realize the name had come across his lips. When Ino asked him what he said, he eyes were no longer glazed over and he went back to serving us as if nothing had happened," Shino finished as he looked over the Hokage's facial expression change to one of interest and slight disbelief.

"Though that is unbelievable, it can't be something that can hold as a reason for me to send out ninjas at this time," Tsunade said hoping that they might have had anything else for her to be able to take action with.

"That's not all. When we were leaving, Kiba picked up some of the dirt on the ground and we saw a seal written into the ground. Just then we looked up and the town we rested in glowed for a split second, but we think we saw Sasuke in the middle of it all," Shikamaru explained almost not believing that he saw the boy standing in the center of the bright light and disappearing with it.

A clatter of scrolls could be heard as they dropped to the floor. Sakura was in the room the whole time hoping that they actually had information on Sasuke or Naruto and this was something they never got close to in the years since they disappeared.

"S-Sasuke was there? Why didn't you go after him! Naruto could have been close or even with him!" she shouted not believing that Naruto's friends would just turn their backs on him and run home when Naruto could have been in the area.

"There is no way we could have even begun to go after Sasuke. Do you not remember what happened when you guys confronted Sasuke? Did you expect us to even stand a chance against him?" Ino questioned looking at Sakura's distraught appearance.

Sakura calmed down some when she caught herself stepping out of bound. There was no way the others could have defeated Sasuke with just the four of them.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," Sakura whispered realizing her mistake.

Ino walked over to Sakura and wrapped her arms around the shaking girl. She knew that this could turn into something after all this time and allowed her friend to cry with hope that any information they found could led them to Naruto.

Tsunade was sitting silently trying to keep her anger under control remembering the dark haired boy who had taken away someone she felt was as close as a son to her.

Looking up at the people in the room Tsunade directed them to acquire the ninjas that she wanted to assign to this new mission. She hoped this would be their break that they needed to finding Sasuke and most of all Naruto.

~oOo~

Sasuke was feeling more stressed than he liked. He knew that the ninja running away from the small village were some of Naruto's old friends and that they had seen the light from the village. At first, he thought they would be heading back to check what was going on instead they left right away.

He didn't know if that was better or worse then them looking around the village and asking question. Almost certainly, they would be back and with more then just the four to ask the villagers about anything suspicious going on. Sasuke was not worried that the villagers would talk, there was nothing they knew about.

"Except that one waiter," Sasuke snarled becoming angry at the thought of the waiter from the cafe actually remembering something and telling the Konoha team when they got there.

"What did you say, Sasuke?" Naruto asked coming into the bedroom.

They were getting ready for bed and Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong. He knew that they would be safe in the forest, but just to tame his paranoid mind he had to go back into the village and check on that one person that always rubbed him the wrong way when they visited.

"Sorry babe, it was nothing." Sasuke answered shaking his head to rid of his thoughts, "Naruto, I'm going to have to go back to that village again." Naruto protested before Sasuke had a chance to say something else.

"You were just there this morning, can't I come with you at least?" he asked trying to a least compromise instead of starting a fight.

"Not this time but I won't be going until the day after tomorrow," Sasuke replied knowing that Naruto would be disappointed that he had to stay in the house alone again.

"What do you have to do this time? I'm starting to wonder what it is you really do there without me," Naruto's sad eyes jerked Sasuke's heart, but he knew that Naruto couldn't go with him.

He would never allow Naruto to know what Sasuke had to do to keep them safe from others that were trying to break them apart.

"You just have to trust me. I would never do anything that would betray you. I promise," even as Sasuke said it, he knew it was a lie.

Their whole relationship was governed on betrayal. He was just so desperate and scared that he didn't really think there was any other way to have Naruto in his life the way he wanted.

Their last meeting left Sasuke with the cold realization that he couldn't go back to the village he used to call home and live a life with Naruto by his side. The people around him seemed to make it their goal to keep them apart. As well as the Kyuubi making it known that Sasuke should not be a part of Naruto's life.

But he would do everything over again if it meant that Naruto and him could be like this; with a home and just themselves to rely on.

"Just get some sleep. We'll go out on a walk tomorrow and maybe to the river," Naruto smiled at the chance to visit the river. That was more rare than his visits to the village.

Sasuke knew it would be safest to check everything around the forest tomorrow with no chance that the Konoha ninjas would be anywhere near the area until at the very least that night if it took them half a day or so to get here. If he knew these Konoha ninja like he thought, they would probably want to leave right away and not stop until they got to there destination.

The visit to the river also gave Naruto a chance to relax seeing that Sasuke wanted to go out of the house with him. Sasuke knew Naruto could tell that he was stressing about something and this would be a good way to get him to stop his worrying. He would just have to chance seeing the Konoha nin in the village, but they should be easy enough to avoid.

Everything looked good around the house. Even with Naruto pestering him about being slow in their walk, he could see that the gate had no chance of anyone detecting it and allowed it to fall down so they could head to the river.

The day was sunny and both boys were happily walking towards their destination hand in hand. Once they reached the river, Naruto took off his shirt and shorts and slipped in the water with only his boxers on. Knowing that this was Naruto's intention from the beginning, Sasuke followed suit.

Sasuke swam over to Naruto and kept close incase anything were to happen. They stayed in the water until Naruto got tired and than headed out of the water. Both boys settled down on the grass and allowed the sun to dry them before putting their clothing back on.

"That was so much fun Sasuke. It's been forever since we've been to the river. We should go more often, especially in this kind of weather," Naruto said with a labored breath.

Sasuke smiled at his love, but saw that Naruto might have stayed in the water longer than he should have.

"Here, lay on my lap. You look a little tried," Sasuke said as he maneuvered Naruto to rest his head against his legs.

"Thanks Sasuke. I think I was a little over excited." Sasuke snorted, "Ok, way over excited, but we haven't done this in forever. I'm happy to share this day with you." Naruto smiled as he started to close his eyes.

"Naruto, hey don't fall asleep here," Sasuke smiled while whispering _dobe_ to the boy laying on him fast asleep.

This was a better outcome then having to put Naruto to sleep by force, so he picked up the boy bridal style and slowly walked back to the house. Naruto was light and Sasuke could carry him like that for a long time so he felt no need to hurry on home.

Placing Naruto on their bed, Sasuke went back downstairs and then headed outside to allow the gates to reemerge and checked once again that everything was alright. It wasn't to late and nothing out of the ordinary happened, so Sasuke felt safe for the moment. He would wake Naruto in a few hours for dinner and than make sure he slept all the way through the night and most of the next day.

Naruto yawned and smiled to the smell of food. He slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sasuke was sitting at the table looking out blankly and seemingly not paying attention to his surroundings. He tensed as Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke.

"You okay? It's rare that you would not notice me approaching you," Naruto told him as he sat in the seat across from Sasuke.

Sasuke was surprised that he didn't even hear Naruto get up and walk down the stairs, much less be able to embrace Sasuke with a hug before he noticed his blonde lover. He realized he was more anxious than he let on. Seeing those people after all this time would be both annoying and dangerous, but he would have to take that chance.

He remembered that Naruto would tell the folks at the village all about where he lived and what he did, without a care in the world before Sasuke could even begin to stop him. That was the reason for the memory erasing seal on the village. The last thing on his mind when they first visited the village was to tell Naruto that their life was a secret and afterwards it just became easier to erase their memory instead of tell Naruto that he couldn't tell those people anything.

That laid back approach might just be his downfall now that people he knew all too well were going to snoop around. Sasuke was sure that all that the ninja saw was the glow, so he would have time before then to get to the cafe waiter. Just to be sure, Sasuke will be leaving first thing in the morning and catch the kid before he started his work at the cafe.

Looking at him expectantly, Naruto waited for Sasuke to answer. He could tell that there was something wrong, but like always he wanted to trust Sasuke that he could handle it.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. Eat up, I want to go to bed early so I get to the village early and be back that much sooner," Naruto smiled at the thought that Sasuke would be making a quick journey and coming back to him as soon as he could.

They finished their meals in silence and walked up to the bedroom. Both got ready for bed and laid down with Sasuke wrapping his strong arms around Naruto's smaller body. They were so close that they could feel each others heart beats. This was the time that Sasuke cherished most. Being so close and sharing this moment meant the world to them both.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Sasuke kissed his forehead and put him into a deep sleep, "I'm sorry for this."

-o-

Sasuke woke up just as the sun was rising and looked over to make sure Naruto was still in a deep sleep. It didn't do the boy any harm, but he wouldn't wake for quite a while.

He got ready to head out quickly so he could catch the guy before he went into the cafe and with as little people around as possible when he did get to him.

He made the decision the night before that he would let the gate down while he was out and only protect the house itself. No one could come in, but Naruto would be able to get out. If he didn't return by tonight than when Naruto woke up he would be able to leave if he needed to. Just in case something did happen with Sasuke, he didn't want Naruto to be trapped in this maze that he had created for the both of them.

Kissing Naruto on the forehead and covering him up in the blanket, Sasuke made his way outside and towards the village as fast as he could.

In a short while he finally made it to the village and was looking from the roof of the building across the cafe for any sign of movement from the place and if the waiter was coming. There were more people walking around going to the various shops than he hoped, but Sasuke went undetected. He masked his chakra as well as he possibly could knowing that whatever Konoha team was sent could and possibly are there now.

Facing them now would be bad, because he didn't know if he could or would want to fight them to the death if it came to it. During all his time with Naruto, even though his memory of everyone from Konoha was erased Naruto told Sasuke that he has had nightmares about people that were dying right in front of him and seeing people who felt so familiar to him turn their back on him.

Shaking his head from the thought, Sasuke stilled as he saw the waiter entering the cafe and was about to descend towards him when he saw them. His eyes narrowed and cursed his luck.

"_Damn, why did they have to be here so early?" _he thought as he saw Sakura, Kakashi and Sai entering the cafe with Ino and Shikamaru right behind.

Sasuke backed off, not knowing how many others might be in the vicinity.

As Sasuke concealed himself further, others in team two surrounded the cafe from different vantage points. They knew that this was the first place, if not only place, they should look if they were to get answers and where Sasuke might show up. So they had to protect the location as best as they could.

When news came that there was information about Naruto and Sasuke that could possibly lead somewhere, all the rookie eleven minus Naruto, Sai and their sensei's packed into the room to hear what the Hokage had to say and who she would select to go on the mission. Everyone was fighting to be the ones to save their friend and defeat the one that betrayed their village many years ago.

_**Flashback**_

_Everyone in the room was talking at once trying to state why they should be allowed to go on the mission and Tsunade just about had enough. She let it go on for a moment more before raising he head to signal quiet._

"_But I have to go!" Kiba shouting not noticing everyone's silent state. _

_Ino bopped him on the head and he was about to ramble on more, but he saw everyone was staring at him with a mix of annoyance and pity. With a pout, he apologized and also became quiet. _

"_Now that I've got everyone's attention I can start. This is going to be a very difficult mission and I think we will need a big number to people. Uchiha is a dangerous person and from our last encounter has shown no mercy when it came to getting what he wants. We will have to assume he will be in that village, but from seeing that the people are living with no fear believe that he had not shown them his true power._

"_There is also the chance of Naruto being with him, but we are not sure. If anyone sees any sign of Naruto, they are to immediately protect him and get him away from Sasuke. And please bring him back with you._

"_This is our last chance. If we do not get Sasuke or Naruto, I will not allow anyone to look for them anymore," There was an uproar, but Lady Tsunade quickly quieted them down._

"_I know what I say is unbelievable, but we are all emotionally and physically drained. We are also scared that Naruto will never come back, but I cannot allow my village to be sucked into this any longer," Tsunade stopped when she saw Sakura clean her throat to speak. She allowed it and waited for what she had to say._

"_How can you say that? He's like a son to you and you would give up on him if this time we can't get him? You know that he would never give up on any of us. What about the ones that don't go? They will always be burdened with thought of what if they were there, could they have helped in any way. You can't be serious about this," Sakura pleaded trying to understand the Hokage's thought process._

"_I'm know he is. God do I know what that boy has done for me and us all, but my first priority is to the village and I'm sorry but my heart just can't take anymore of this. As for anyone regretting not being able to go and wishing that they could have done something if they were there, that will not be a problem. You are all going on this mission. You will be split into three teams of five and head out as soon as you all gear up," Tsunade stated._

_**End Flashback**_

Everyone was grateful to hear that they could help and Tsunade explained that they needed people who understood the situation to go to the village to look for the two ninja. This was indeed _their_ mission and _their_ last chance to save a precious friend.

The first team was made up of Sakura, Kakashi, Sai, Ino and Shikamaru. The three who are closest to Naruto and two of the people who had actually seen what had happened in the village were put together as a front team giving them the opportunity to ask around the village and hopefully find something, _anything_ that could give them information about the two missing ninjas.

The next team consisted of Kiba, Hinata, Choji, Gai and Kurenai who were to look after team one. They were hiding on the roof tops and away from the villagers, but made sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicion that could be a danger to team one when they were looking into information from the villagers and if Sasuke could possibly be looking out.

They too were protected by the last team with Neji, Lee, TenTen, Shino and Asuma staying in the forest surrounding the village in the event that Sasuke came into the village or tried to get out if he was already there.

And Sasuke sensed them all. After spotting the five go into the cafe and hiding further away from the place, Sasuke felt that they were not the only ones in the village. Some of the teams tried to hide their chakra, but for the most part it seemed as if none of them cared that they would be found out. If anything, they wanted Sasuke to find and confront them.

Sasuke wasn't about to oblige to that and started to plan the best way to either get rid of the waiter before he talked to the ninjas or get out of the village all together. He was almost certain that the reason they got to the cafe so fast was that they already knew who to go to. Just how the hell they figured it out was beyond him.

Walking into the cafe, Sakura went up to the counter where a young lady was ringing up take out orders for customers who decided not to sit and dine.

"Hello, welcome to Cafe Taiyou. How may I help you?" she asked Sakura.

The other four sat down at a table and kept an eye out for anyone or anything out of the ordinary. From Ino's description, they knew they were looking for a guy with short brown hair, tan skin and black rimmed glasses and he didn't seem to be in the main cafe area yet. They kept their eyes sharp while Sakura was asking if the casher lady knew where the guy was.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know where I can find one of your workers? He has short brown hair and wears glasses and was waitering here just the day before last," Sakura finished with a smile on her face and put the hands that were gesturing with the details she was describing down.

The girl smiled back and thought before answering with a nod, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know who you are talking about. He should be in the back, I'll go get him for you."

The girl walked to the back in the kitchen while Sakura turned to the others giving them a smile and a nod. They nodded back and as Sakura turned back around, they all heard a scream erupt from the direction of the back kitchen.

All of the the members ran to the back and were shocked with what they saw. There was a snake in the kitchen and it had attached itself to a workers neck. His eyes were dilated with fear and before any of them could make a move, the creature clamped down on the neck and the life of the guy seemed to be sucked out.

They knew that they were seeing the person they were looking for. He was dying before their eyes, finally prompting Sakura to run to him.

Sai produced an ink bird that flew toward the snake and grabbed it before it got away. Once it's claws sank into the snake it proofed away leaving everyone shocked that a clone could be this dangerous and deadly.

The guy was on the ground clinching his neck and taking deep breaths. He didn't have much time and Sakura knew she needed to get to work.

"I have to get the poison out right away or he will die. Sasuke is here, you all have to go after him. There isn't much time. I'll follow you out as soon as I can," Sakura explained in slight panic as Ino and her worked together to get the deadly poison out of his system.

"Will we be able to get any information out of him?" Kakashi asked as he watched the two work and debating on how best to go about this situation.

"Not anytime soon. When the poison is out, he needs to go to the hospital and fight the rest of it off. I know what was used on his body and he won't be able to function for days, maybe even weeks," Sakura told him, knowing how to treat the poison.

Sasuke had used it before when he attached another team that went after him and she had gotten a sample of it. It took months, but with the help of Lady Tsunade, Sakura had finally came up with an antidote that would help fight the poison. It was still not strong enough to get rid of the poison on its own, but it gave the victim a chance to live.

"Go now, we'll take care of this. Kakashi. You have to find him," Sakura begged staring straight into her sensei's eyes. He understood what this meant to her and to all of the others. They needed to find Sasuke.

Sasuke had slipped back into the shadows after he saw what had happened. He knew he couldn't go in there himself, because no matter how well he hid his chakra he knew that if there was any one who could sense him it would be Kakashi or even Sakura. They knew him too well for him to chance getting that close to them.

It was easy enough hiding from the others that seemed to be watching the cafe and surrounded area for anything that seemed unusual. To bad they weren't looking underground, because thats just the way Sasuke knew he could get his snake clone in. Once the snake was in, it found who it was looking for and attacked. Whatever happened after the bit didn't matter because Sasuke was already running out of the village.

What he didn't count on was having another team watching in the forest. He sensed them too late too go unnoticed. Running as fast as he could now, he just hoped to get away from the team.

Neji was watching the forest with his byakugan and saw right away that someone was coming. Even with his gifted eyes Neji could just barely tell that there was someone else in the forest; they were that well hidden. What he could tell was the biggest chakra point that lead to the heart and he knew that it had to be Sasuke. He was one of the few strong enough to almost make himself invisible, even to Neji's eyes.

"I found him," Neji spoke into the headset and flaring up his chakra so the others could tell where his location was. He already knew that Sasuke knew he was there, therefore there was no reason to hid. They had decided to do that from the beginning.

It was in hopes that Sasuke would go after one of them and give his position away. Than he might either be captured or led them to where Naruto might be. The teams thought it would be in the village, but with Sasuke running out Neji wasn't so sure that Naruto was in the village at all.

Everyone of the Konoha ninja followed Neji's chakra as he tried to keep up with Sasuke. Neji thought for sure that Sasuke would stop and fight him, but all he was doing was running away.

Deeper into the forest, Sasuke realized that he couldn't go back to the house. They would find Naruto there and he wasn't almost positive that he could throw them all off his track. It seemed that the whole Konoha 11 and their sensei's had come after Sasuke.

Neji saw Sasuke stop in a clearing and held back at the forests edge. He didn't want to start anything until the others came. With the power he showed from their last encounter, he wasn't so sure he could hold his own against Sasuke and plus starting a fight will just waste time if they didn't get information about Naruto from him.

"You just going to hide Neji? Didn't know you were such a coward," Sasuke taunted already knowing that this approach wouldn't work on the stoic boy.

"I'm not here to fight you Sasuke, we just want to know where Naruto is," Neji calmly told him. They both could sense that the others were very close.

"Hn, he's safe and that's all you need to know," replied Sasuke as he saw the others coming through the forest.

Activating his sharingan, Sasuke was prepared to fight them all if need be. The rest of the groups arrived and surrounded Sasuke. Some were in the forest trees and others standing ahead of him in the clearing.

Everyone of them were looking at him with mixed hate and hurt in their eyes. He knew what he did to these people and how he took away someone that they cared about, but he didn't regret taking Naruto.

Sasuke didn't want to talk to these people, just to try to get out of here and go to Naruto. He knew that Naruto would wake in a couple of hours and as much as he was trying to tell himself that he was alright that Naruto left because he at least had some time with him, he couldn't bring himself to let go without having had a chance to stop Naruto from leaving.

"Sasuke, tell us where Naruto is. We don't want to fight you," Sakura said trying to calm her racing heart.

It's been a long time since she had seen her old teammate and the hurt and hate that she felt towards him for what he did to her and all of Konoha was stronger than she ever thought. Her lack of care for this man she used to claim was the love of her life almost surprised her, but after what he had done it was more than understandable. All she wanted was for him to give Konoha its sun back.

"I don't want to talk to you. Like I told Neji, he's safe," Sasuke explained, making it clear with his glare that they had nothing to talk about.

"You hurt too many people for us to believe you! If you don't want to tell us anything then we will force it out of you," Sakura replied as she fisted her hand ready to take the man in front of her down.

"So be it," and without warning Sasuke was in front of the ninja ready to pierce her with his katana before Kakashi stopped him.

"You plan to kill us all, Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned unbelievably. He had not told anyone why Sasuke took Naruto, but he knew that he couldn't let him keep Naruto hidden and away from his village for just that reason.

"If it comes to it," Sasuke spoke knowing full well that he was putting up a front. He only needed to get an opportunity to run away from here, but he knew these people would not hold back in trying to take Sasuke down.

From his left Kiba attacked and got as close as a foot away before Sasuke disappeared on him and came from behind to knock him unconscious, but again was stopped by another. This time it was Hinata who got to him.

After that, everyone came towards him. He knew he was stronger than most, if not all of these people so it would be no problem taking any of them down. His problem was that they knew it too and were fighting together making no apologies about ganging up on him. This was going to be harder than he thought.

All of them were protecting each other and Sasuke couldn't find an opening to either attack or escape. Sai's ink birds came towards him and he sliced through them resulting in the ink surrounding his katana. Focusing his chakra in the katana, the ink easily fell apart from the weapon. Wasting that moment allowed Gai and Lee to come from both sides.

They were fast enough to kick Sasuke back and into TenTen's stream of kunai that were flying quickly towards him. He was able to dodge them all and landed in time to notice the insects gathering at his feet. Shino's bugs were ready to attack and put a paralyzing poison into Sasuke but Sasuke jumped up and usedhis _Fireball Jutsu _to kill the creatures quickly.

Sasuke landed in a tree branch a few feet away and looked to see Asuma and Shikamaru coming towards him. Before he could make a move Shikamaru trapped him in a _Shadow Imitation Shuriken Jutsu _that paralyzed Sasuke in place giving Asuma time to use his chakra blades to strike at Sasuke. Just before reaching him with the deadly attack, one of Sasuke's snake clone removed the shuriken from his shadow allowing Sasuke to block and kick Asuma sending him flying back towards Shikamaru.

Barely getting a chance to catch his breath, Sasuke saw Choji and Ino charge at him. Ino was preparing to use _Mind Destruction Jutsu _to control Sasuke and allow Choji to use _Partial Expansion Jutsu _to pound Sasuke down with his fists, but Sasuke proved too fast for them. Coming up behind the two in a flash, Sasuke knocked them both out.

Kakashi attacked Sasuke head on as Sasuke's katana and Kakashi's kunai flew through the air towards each other. Though both sharingan's were being used, both men didn't use them to their full advantage. This was a simple fight between student and teacher. They were moving too fast for the naked eye to see what was going on, but with the assistance of the byakugan Hinata and Neji saw it perfectly.

It was in surprise that Sasuke went down. Landing on his feet, but being unable to move quickly enough Hinata and Neji continued to use _Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms _on Sasuke's chakra points_._ They knew Sasuke could be strong enough to uphold an attack by one of them but both working together in rapid succession made it impossible for him to react. He was pushed up against a tree and felt its branches wrap around him, realizing too late that he was trapped in an illusion. Kurenai had used her_ Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death _to immobilize Sasuke and his counter would have worked if his eyes weren't also proved useless.

Sakura had swiftly came up to him in his weak state and used a _Temporary Paralyzing Jutsu_ on Sasuke's eyes. He could see, but any jutsus he tried to perform using his sharingan weren't effective.

Breathing heavily, Sasuke felt numb and knew he was trapped. This fight had taken a lot out of them all, but in the end they all had worked together to get him in a position that would render him useless and escape to become impossible.

"Where is he Sasuke?" he heard someone he believed was Sakura question.

Sasuke just stared at the people that surrounded him. All the pain he caused everyone for his own selfish reasons and hell he had put them through came at him when he looked into their eyes. He still didn't regret taking Naruto, but he did feel sorry for taking him away from people he loved and who loved him in return.

With all the hate he had towards his previous home and the people that tried to get close to him seeming to fade, Sasuke welcomed whatever they had for him.

"I'm not going to tell you that," he said, knowing that once Naruto did leave their house he would be able to find his way back to Konoha and to the people he truly wanted to be with.

"Sasuke, if you do not cooperate than we will have no choice but to follow orders to execute you. If what we have witnessed, you are an enemy of the village; too dangerous to bring back who is believed to have killed his former teammate. Do you honestly not have anything to say to us?" Kakashi stated attempting to get through to Sasuke before it was too late.

Sasuke took a deep breath and calmed his racing heart. Relatively speaking, he was more accepting of his faith than he thought he would be. The end never seemed as welcoming as it did before, even when he was willing to give his body to Orochimaru. He believed that Naruto would never want to be with him after he found out what he did to him, so he didn't see himself staying in a world where Naruto hated him.

Time passed and silence filled the forests. Sasuke still refused to say anything.

"Please Sasuke, just tell us where he is," Sakura begged when Sasuke still refused to speak.

After a long moment Kakashi was forced to do the inevitable. When the familiar sounds of the _Chidori _reached Sasuke's ears, he closed his eyes and pictured Naruto standing before him smiling. Everyone was holding their breaths at what was to happen.

As the powerfully electric hand came towards Sasuke's heart he whispered, "I'm sorry for everything."

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed this chapter! There should be one more coming out sometime soon.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Realized ownership of Naruto will never happen. Was a very sad day till I saw a puppy.  
><strong>

**_"Blah, Blah" _**-Kyuubi makes an appearance.

SASUNARU

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_As the powerfully electric hand came towards Sasuke's heart he whispered, "I'm sorry for everything."_

* * *

><p>Naruto blinked his eyes, waking up to find that it was close to sunset. Surprised, he hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom.<p>

"_How could I have slept that long? I must have been more tired after the swim than I thought," _Naruto questioned himself as he washed his hands and than walked out of the door.

Heading down the stairs, Naruto was hoping to find Sasuke on the couch or in the kitchen but was met with an emptiness. He signed wondering why Sasuke hadn't come back yet. Naruto didn't hear him leave, but Sasuke had told him he would be going in the morning and now it was almost getting dark.

Naruto was beginning to worry. This was the first time that he had woken up alone and not knowing when Sasuke was coming back terrified him._ "What if he's hurt? Or lost? Or even worse?" _Naruto screamed to himself while searching the house just in case Sasuke was really there, but was hiding from him. He knew that Sasuke would never do that, but it was something that kept him occupied from the worse of his thoughts.

After finding Sasuke nowhere, his mind was beginning to run rampant with all his thoughts and trying to clam himself down wasn't working. Naruto knew that Sasuke told him not to leave the house when he wasn't there, but he just couldn't stop himself from going out to look for him.

Naruto went back up stairs, changed and ran back down. He took one shoe and leaned his right hand on the door to put his shoe on with his left when he felt something under his hand. It was an envelope taped to the door. He throw down his shoe and took the paper off the door to look at the envelope.

"_It must be from Sasuke," _Naruto reasoned, finding himself calmed down knowing that Sasuke didn't leave him alone without anything.

Forgetting about leaving the house for the moment, Naruto walked over to the couch and sat down. He had what looked like a letter in the envelope and was becoming a little nervous about opening it.

Sasuke had never left him a letter or anything of the sorts when he went out. He always came back.

Slowing opening the envelope, Naruto removed the letter and opened it up to reveal a message addressed to him that looking to be in Sasuke's handwriting. As he began to read it, tears were welling up in his eyes.

_Dear Naruto,_

_If you are reading this than I hadn't made it back. I want to tell you everything that had been going on, but as my first and last letter to you I find it hard to waste those words now. _

_I just want to say I'm sorry for hurting you. I was desperate and what I did seemed like the only way for us to be together. All I ever did was love you and even though I know that you don't remember, you will soon. These past few years were the best of my life and I wouldn't chance it for the world._

_I only ask that when the time comes and you really remember it all, that you don't fill your life with hating me. I want you to be happy and I hope that your life can be lived to the fullest without me there by your side. _

_I love you, _

_Sasuke._

Naruto finished reading the letter and was stunned still. He couldn't move, but as the words sunk in Naruto scrambled to look and see if there was anything else that Sasuke had put in the envelope. He didn't understand what Sasuke did to hurt him, but he knew that Sasuke was saying goodbye and he couldn't let that happen.

Looking closer, Naruto found a smaller piece of paper with symbols written on them that he didn't understand. Brushing his thumb over the writing, Naruto managed to smug some of the ink and got it on himself.

Naruto tried to wipe off the ink on his clothing but it wasn't coming off, rather it was spreading. The smug of ink on his thumb was changing shape and the symbols from the paper were crawling towards him. All the symbols from the paper were now surrounding Naruto's right forearm and as much as he tried it wouldn't come off.

He stared in shock as the ink glowed a bright blue and than nothing more. Wildly Naruto tried to rub off the symbols, but it didn't go anywhere. He tired of trying and realized that he was wasting time when Sasuke was out there somewhere thinking that it was best to be gone from Naruto.

Getting up and heading towards the entrance, Naruto threw on his shoes and opened the door heading outside. Just as he passed the threshold, he felt his arm begin to heat up. The heat was so intense that Naruto clinched his arm to his chest feeling it start to spread throughout his body. The symbols were surrounding his whole entire body now and he could feel pain all over.

"Ahh!" Naruto fell to his hands and knees as he tried to control himself, but the pain was too intense for him to take.

He screamed till his throat went raw and let himself fall over ending up on his back. Breathing heavily, Naruto saw the symbols on his body emit a bright light as his arm had previously. Memories and thoughts that he thought were not his own started to bombard his mind. He also felt a pull in his stomach, as if something was trying to get free. With more and more thoughts coming through, they seemed to be making the pull on his belly become less and less.

Naruto didn't know what was happening and his consciousness was slowly slipping away. His mind had no room for any thoughts outside of the new information that was coming towards him. It felt like he was watching a movie of his whole life running in his head.

His eyelids began to close and Naruto's conscience faded into darkness as he laid there in front of the place he called home for the past few years.

-o-

Naruto snapped his eyes open and looked up at the sky. The sun would be gone in a few minutes and Naruto quickly calculated that he had only been out of it for no more than half an hour.

As he got off the ground, Naruto felt it all. His power was back and his memories were again remembered.

"Sasuke," Naruto growled his name knowing that he had to find the man that had started this all.

With speed he knew he possessed, Naruto ran towards the area that he felt an enormous amount of chakra being produced. He might have been out of trained for a while, but everything was coming back as if the time did not matter.

The anger within him was overwhelming and he knew exactly who to take it out on. From what he sensed though, he just hoped he made it in time.

"_**You're finally back kid," **_a voice within Naruto stated.

Naruto almost stumbled, but quickly recovered when he remembered who was talking to was a comment that needed no answer and Naruto was in too much of a rush to give time to having a conversation with the beast within him. He was back and talking about it right now was not his top priority. They both knew it.

~oOo~

Sakura's eyes widened as Kakashi was thrown aside and his hand ended up hitting a tree close by. Right after, Kurenai's illusion was dissipated and Sasuke was flying into a tree to his right. It had happened so fast that no one reacted.

The scene from a moment ago was changed drastically to what it is now. Kakashi was leaning against the tree that he destroyed when he was pushed to the his left, away from Sasuke's heart. Kurenai's illusion was gone with her having moved away from the action. Then there was Sasuke who was leaning against the tree he had hit when he got punched.

In all of this, standing there in the spot Sasuke had been was Naruto looking angrier than he had ever looked in his life. He eyes had darken to a red hue and were narrowed looking at the hurt form of Sasuke's weak body. No one moved as Naruto started to walk over to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto glaring at him. He widen his eyes and was about to speak before Naruto beat him to the punch.

"How dare you!" Naruto yelled loud enough for the birds in the forest to stir and everyone to keep quite as the two exchanged a one-sided conversation.

They were too surprised at seeing Naruto and wanted to talk to him, but they couldn't bring themselves to disturb Naruto when he was this angry and it was all being directed towards Sasuke. They just couldn't understand why Sasuke would rather chose death than tell them anything about Naruto, but the questions were best left for later.

After the shout, Sasuke tried to speak again but was cut off by Naruto's angry words.

"You left me alone in that house with that letter about not hating you and that you were sorry, but you go and try to get yourself killed. By people that care about you and me, no less. You are a coward if you think you can get away with what you did that easily," continued Naruto, not wanting to hear any excuses from Sasuke.

"I'm sorry," was all Sasuke could weakly say in his defeated state.

He felt tired physically and mentally and he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to stay awake. Sasuke thought that death was going to be his company, instead it was his love that was yelling at him for trying to leave him. _"Why would be he angry about that," _Sasuke pondered as Naruto started crying that Sasuke was trying to leave him again and wasn't keeping his promise.

"W-Why are you crying about me leaving you? I hurt you so much," Sasuke finally asked, genuinely confused about the situation in his hazy state.

"I know you erased my memory bastard, but when you gave it back everything about the past few years stayed. I can't forget any of that. How much you did for me and how much you loved me. It was unforgivable how far you would go for what you wanted, but I can't being myself to hate you even after all you have done," Naruto finished as Sasuke couldn't keep his eyes open any more and felt his conscious slipping.

Too tired to do anything else, Sasuke smiled softly at Naruto and finally let the sleepy feeling take him.

-o-

"Sasuke!" Shouted Naruto as Sasuke finally lost consciousness.

Naruto rushed to Sasuke's side and than looked over at Sakura to see that she was running towards them. They made eye contact, but neither said anything. Wordlessly, Sakura checked on Sasuke's condition and finally spoke about what they had to do for him.

"He should be alright but we have to get him to a hospital to help with healing his body and prevent dehydration," Sakura spoke as she went into her professional mode of speaking.

She didn't want to show her emotions at seeing Naruto and what had just happened before her eyes in front of all these people, so for now she kept it bottled in.

"Ok, let's go," Naruto said picking up Sasuke and putting him on his back. The whole way to the village not one of them spoke as Naruto led the large group back to the village.

Finally when everyone arrived, Naruto headed towards the hospital alone and made the nurses see to Sasuke's recovery. Everyone was surprised to see the missing nins, but did as they were told.

A few hours of worry later, Naruto walked out of the hospital knowing that Sasuke was in good hands. He knew he had to go talk to some people and that he couldn't put it off all day to stay by Sasuke's side. In his worry of Sasuke, he didn't say anything to the people that helped look for him.

He saw them all there and was grateful that they were all there and nervous at seeing them again, but couldn't being himself to say anything to his friends at the time.

On his walk to the Hokage tower, Naruto spotted Hinata and Kiba walking down the street. He approached them and stopped when he saw that they were holding hands. Smiling to himself, Naruto began walking again and finally reached the couple.

"Hi guys," he started, not really sure how they would react to seeing him.

"Naruto!" Kiba shouted running up to him and hugging Naruto tight.

"Hey Kiba. How have you been?" Naruto asked.

"Great! I'm so glad you're back man," answered Kiba in an excited voice.

Naruto was happy to see that his friend hadn't changed much in the time he was gone.

"Thanks Kiba. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you guys right away when I saw all of you, but I really want to thank you for everything you did for me. Both of you are amazing friends and I hope you guys stay happy together," Naruto said as he bowed him head in thanks for all that his friends had done for him.

"N-No problem, Naruto. We are just happy to see that you are alright and thank you too," Hinata answered as Naruto noticed her shy voice had picked up a great amount of confidence.

"Yeah, we're just glad to see you are alright," Kiba chimed in while he patted Naruto on the back.

"Thanks you two, I really mean it," Naruto said trying to kept any tears from his eyes.

"No problem," they both answered as they stood next to each other while holding hands.

Naruto smiled, happy to see that they were happily together and bid them farewell as he returned to his walk towards the tower. He hoped to see all his friends before he got to see the Hokage, Naruto wanted to thank them all.

Just a little ways down surprisingly Naruto did see a couple of his other friends that had helped him. Neji, Lee and TenTen were walking together and finally noticing Naruto they stopped to let him catch up to them.

"Hey guys," Naruto smiled at seeing his old friends. "How are you all?"

"Naruto! It is most joyous to see you again and that your youthful spirit is still high as ever. I have been most well and how about you?" Lee spoke loudly walking over to Naruto and hugged him.

Naruto smiled uncertainly and answered "Not bad."

"Lee, calm down. Hi Naruto, nice to see you again," Neji said calmly as he pried Lee off of Naruto.

"Nice to see you too Neji. It's really nice to see all of you guys," Naruto answered with a wide grin.

"Yeah you too, I've missed our sparring sessions. Hope we can do it again now that you are back," TenTen said remembering how Naruto would help her with her weapons training whenever he had a chance to before he left.

"Of course. Just don't hurt me too much," Naruto and TenTen laughed as their memory of the close calls also came back to them.

Their laughter quieted down and everyone was smiling at the exchange when Naruto bowed before them. They were all surprised at his actions as he said, "Thank you for everything."

The three said it was nothing at all. "You never gave up on any of us, there was no way we could give up on you," Neji answered.

They all exchanged goodbyes and Naruto was again on his way to see the Hokage. It had been so long and he was sure that she would be upset that he didn't go straight to see her.

In no time he was in view of the tower, but decided instead to walk around a little more in case he saw anyone else he knew. Many of the villagers smiled and thrown nice words at him which was surprising, but he didn't put much thought into it.

Walking by Ramen Ichiraku, Naruto heard voices that he recognized. Smiling to himself, he walked inside.

Sitting there at the bar were all the sensei's including Iruka. It seemed like they were talking about the mission to retrieve Naruto and didn't seem to notice him.

"Hi guys!" Naruto shouted getting the attention of everyone in the place.

They all turned around and without warning, Iruka ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Naruto! I'm so happy to see you. How are you? Are you okay? Wow, you've grown so much. Have I asked you if you were okay?" Iruka bombard Naruto with more and more questions until Kakashi came up to him and interrupted them by wrapping his arms around Iruka's waist.

"Calm down Iruka honey, let the boy breath. He did just get back and I think all these questions are a little too much for him to answer right now," Kakashi said as he had successfully calmed the younger ninja down.

Iruka breathed in a few times and tired again, "I'm sorry Naruto, it's just that I'm extremely happy to see you."

"I am too Iruka-sensei. It's great to see all of you," Naruto said smiling to all of them.

"Good to see you too kid," Asuma said while a puff of smoke came out of his mouth.

"Yes, it's been a long time. Glad to know you are okay," Kurenai smiled as she sat next to Asuma.

"Naruto, you youthful boy it is great to see that you are back," Gai announced over the other voices welcoming him back.

"Thanks everyone. For everything you have done for me," smiling to them Naruto once again showed his appreciation by bowing before them.

All of them were telling him it was no problem and that he had nothing to thank them for, that they would do it again if they had to. As conversation started up, owner Teuchi came out and welcomed Naruto back.

"You have always been my greatest customer, you'll be back here again right?" Teuchi asked with a smile on his face.

"Defiantly, I've missed this place so much," Naruto replied with a smile wider than that of Teuchi's.

As he went back to work, Naruto turned to bid the rest of them bye before Iruka stopped him to tell him that they will have to talk later. With more hugs and goodbyes, Naruto left them to enjoy their meals and again went around town to see if he could find more of his friends.

Searching around he finally found Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Shino at the training grounds. They were sitting around seeming to have just finished sparring. Ino and Shikamaru were leaning against each other by a tree, Choji was snaking on a bag of chips and Shino was just sitting there doing nothing.

They all turned as they noticed Naruto walking towards them. Ino got up and walked over to hug Naruto.

"Naruto, it's so good to see you again," she gushed acting happier to see him than she had ever seemed before.

They never really talked before, but she was one of Sakura's best friends so he could understand why she was happy to see him.

"Good to see you too," Naruto answered as he hugged Ino back. Looking over to the other three, Naruto said his hellos to them too.

Shino nodded to him, Shikamaru lazily said hello to him and Choji said a "Welcome back," over eating his chips.

Smiling, Naruto thanked them all for their efforts in looking for him and bowed in the same manner as he had before. They talked about nothing much for a while and Naruto finally left them to head towards the Hokage tower with a promise to talk more later.

He wasn't sure how much he wanted to see either of his teammates right now.

They both must be disappointed that he wasn't more hurt by Sasuke's actions as he should be. If he had time to talk to them he will, but he wasn't sure if he was prepared for it yet. Sadly he came across Sai right on the steps leading to the Hokage tower.

"Naruto, it's great to see you," Sai said with a smile. Even though Naruto had been gone for a while, Sai still seemed to have a bit of trouble expressing himself.

"Hey, Sai. I'm happy to see you too," he smiled though he wasn't sure if that was the right reaction.

"Don't worry so much Naruto," Sai said when he noticed the tension in Naruto's shoulders. "I understand your feeling, you don't have to explain yourself to me."

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Naruto hugged Sai and thanked him. He was happy to see that Sai wasn't acting differently towards him for wanting to save Sasuke. No one really understood just how badly Sasuke had hurt him, except his teammates and Kakashi, and he was happy to see that at least two of them were okay with everything and just happy that he was back.

Thinking that he would be seeing no one but Tsunade from now on Naruto relaxed a bit before heading towards the main office that the Hokage used for work purposes.

While he was looking down, Naruto was too late to notice someone walking straight towards him. So when he bumped into that person it was a big surprise.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Naruto said and finally looked up to see who it was.

"S-Sakura. Um, hello," Naruto smiled nervously. He wasn't sure that Sakura would be happy to talk to him right now. Naruto saw the pained expression when she was helping Sasuke and he knew it wasn't because Sasuke was hurt.

Seeing Naruto before her, Sakura had thought she was prepared for her encounter with the blonde ninja, but it didn't seem to have really helped. She was nervous and also upset about the whole situation. After what she had seen happen between the two, Sakura knew that there was no chance for her.

"Hi Naruto," Sakura started not wanting to seem mad because she was more angry at herself than she was with him.

Not liking the tension that was obviously taking hold of the conversation Naruto spoke, "Look Sakura, I'm really sorry. I know you don't want me to be accepting of Sasuke after everything, but I can't help it. Though he left me, left the whole village and tried to kill us all, when he came for me and I lived with him I saw a side of Sasuke I never knew. I began to fall for him and that hasn't gone away."

"I do understand that Naruto, but he took you away from everyone that you cared about. And from the sounds of it, he erased your memory of everything that wasn't in his favor. You haven't even told anyone about that, did you?" Sakura questioned as her angry started to get the best of her.

"No I haven't, but he gave it all back so there is nothing more to say. I know how he feels about me and how bad he wanted to be with me. It was not the best way to go about it, but I can't forget those years we had together," Naruto explained even when he sensed Sakura's angry grow with her words.

"How can you say that as if that time you spent with him made up for everything? He betrayed us all, you most of all. You are way too forgiving!" Sakura shouted with tears starting to prickle her eyes.

"Of course I am. I love him!" Naruto shouted back as the angry got to him too. He knew it was bad to forgive Sasuke so easily, but he couldn't change his mind about this.

Just than Naruto noticed that Sakura quieted down and her emotions were blank. He was about to ask what was wrong, but she beat him to it.

"I understand Naruto. I know that I would try to be with the one I loved no matter what, but I can't find myself forgiving Sasuke anytime soon. I do hope you are happy together," Sakura smiled despite the tears that finally started to run down her face.

"Sakura?" Naruto wanted to ask why she was crying, but when Sakura hugged him his voice stopped.

"I'm so happy you are back Naruto. I've missed you," she said squeezing him tighter.

"I've missed you too Sakura and thank you for everything," Naruto responded when Sakura let go.

She than stepped back and walked past him. Sakura knew that they were in love, but to hear Naruto say it was harder on her than she thought it would be. She had to get away from him. Saying she wanted them to be happy was a lie, but she couldn't voice her sadness.

Naruto watcher her leave and than turned back towards the hall that would led him to the Hokage still wondering if Sakura was really alright. She seemed upset about more than just Naruto trusting Sasuke too easily. He would have to talk to her again. The tension that they left with was too much for him to let go of.

Though the thought of talking to Sakura became rather appealing now, Naruto chose to walk towards the door. He really hoped Lady Tsunade wasn't too mad at him for taking so long to see her. Opening the door he was surprised to see that she wasn't the only one in the room.

The meeting seemed intense and he knew it was since the elders were there. _"They must be talking about Sasuke and me,"_ thought Naruto as he was about to turn around and walk out the room. Tsunade saw him though and stopped him before he had a chance to leave.

"Naruto?" Tsunade saw the boy after all these years and got up to walk towards him. "Is that you?" she asked as he was hiding his face.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade. Sorry I disturbed you, I can come back later," Naruto told her politely trying to again leave the room.

"Wait Naruto. Pardon me, I will be back in a moment," Tsunade said to the elders following Naruto out of the room.

"Come with me," Tsunade told Naruto leading him to another office down the hall.

The room was small and looked to have been more for storage rather than an actual functioning office.

"I'm sorry that I interrupted your meeting," Naruto started, but stopped talked when Tsunade came over to him and hugged him.

"Stop talking about that you brat. I really don't care," Tsunade told him as she tried to keep the tears from coming out. "I've missed you so much."

Naruto hugged her back and replied, "I've missed you too Baa-chan."

Letting go and stepping back, Tsunade looked Naruto over. He was the same blonde haired ninja she had known for so long, but his hair was a little longer and features were more hardened. The boy she knew had grown into a man and tears started to come down when she was reminded that she wasn't able to witness his transformation.

"I'll kill that Uchiha for what he had done," Tsunade said thinking she was talking to herself, but when she heard Naruto protest she realized her mistake.

"You can't do that!" Naruto shouted after hearing Tsunade's words.

"How can I not? Look what he has done. He took you away from everyone in the village that cared about you. Why? For his own selfish benefit. I will not allow him to walk this village ever again. This time I agree with what the elders are saying," Tsunade finished not wanted to hear of this anymore.

"No! I won't let you," Naruto responded to Tsunade's short rant.

Tsunade couldn't believe what she was hearing from the boys mouth. She knew that Naruto had a strong bond with the boy, but he had kidnapped him and kept him hostage for years. Tsunade knew she had the authority to get rid of the kid and knowing that Sasuke must have kept Naruto to make himself stronger, she was not willing to let him live free for his actions.

"Why not? He has hurt you so much Naruto. He kidnapped and used you to gain even more power and is a danger to us all. How can you forgive him so easily?" Tsunade questioned with distress plain on her face.

"He didn't kidnap me for power. You haven't seen him in the time since he took me away, wouldn't you think he would have used his power while I was with him rather than staying away?" Naruto countered her, not sure if he wanted to tell her the real reason that Sasuke took him away.

It seemed as if not one of the members of the team that came looking for him and Sasuke told her of what really happened. He was somewhat grateful that they let him talk to her about it first, but wasn't sure if he could bring himself to say it.

"Than what? Why would he take you away if it wasn't so he could gain more power?" she again questioned his comments.

It was now or never. He had to tell her or she would probably agree to take Sasuke away. Naruto knew he couldn't tell her everything because she would be more than angry with him and Sasuke and hoped that she would trust him, but he did have to say something.

"You are right that he took me for a selfish reason, but it was not for power." Naruto took a breath and continued, "He took me because wanted to be with me."

"What! That perverted bastard took you away for that," Tsunade screamed getting ready to run to the hospital and finish the job that the others failed to do.

"No! It wasn't like that. He loves me, Baa-chan and I, well, I love him too. He was desperate and I know what he did wasn't right, but I can't forget everything he has done for me over the years we were together. It was true happiness that I felt when I was with him," Naruto ended showing Tsunade all his sincerity.

Tsunade cursed under her breath and looked away. She knew that wasn't everything, but Naruto was indeed like a son to her and she had to trust in what he said. Though she really didn't want to hear that because now she would have to get the elders to agree to let the dark haired brat stay out of prison for the rest of his life.

Signing, Tsunade looked at Naruto and knew that she would side with him no matter what the outcome was. "Fine, but it will be close to impossible to convince the elders to let the other brat go without punishment. I don't know if I have the power to turn their decision around."

"Let me handle it and no matter what I say do not disagree with me," Naruto stated knowing that he would have to wing it when he talked to the elders that weren't even that supportive of him when he was in the village.

"Are you going to lie to them?" Tsunade asked, knowing what the answer was but needed to to hear it with her own ears.

"It will only be a bit of a fib, but it will be better for all of us. Sasuke isn't the bad guy that we knew before and having him waste away in the prison would be a big disadvantage for the whole village," Naruto tried to assure her and was hoping that it worked, because he had no other reason to save Sasuke but for his own benefit.

"Okay, but if this turns out bad than I don't think I can do anything," Tsunade told him honestly.

"Don't worry. Everything will work out great," Naruto smiled hoping the confidence was showing more in his voice than what he actually felt.

He couldn't lose Sasuke a second time and if he has a chance to fight to keep him with Naruto than he would take it. _"Just wondering if Sasuke would be surprised that I'm still fighting for him when he wakes up?"_ Naruto thought to himself.

The two talked a little more and than headed off to where the Konoha elders waited.

"Sorry to make you wait. We are ready to resume this meeting, but I would like Naruto to join us," Tsunade told them leaving no room for argument.

"Is it really alright for him to be here with what we are discussing?" asked one of the elders that didn't take Tsunade's threatening voice into much consideration.

"Yes it is," Tsunade told him getting annoyed that her request was questioned.

"Fine, then we will proceed as before. Once the Uchiha boy wakes he will be taken to the prison immediately. You agree with this, do you not Lady Tsunade?" another elder said as he wanted the conversation to be over and done with so he could get away from here.

"No, I do not agree with all of you," Tsunade stated as the elders started to argue with her change of heart.

"How could you put the village in danger like this?" "He tried to destroy us before and you want to let him go?" "He was able to kidnap a powerful ninja and you are willing to let him walk among the villagers?" "Are you changing your mind just because this boy came?" "Is what he has said to you so profound that you would let a dangerous criminal go?" Were just some of the arguments that came out of the elders mouths and Naruto couldn't just stand there listening to all their accusing shouts.

"Stop saying he is a threat to the village! Sasuke would never attack Konoha again, he took me away to help save us all!" Naruto shouted making the others shut their mouths.

"What are you talking about boy?" another elder challenged as curiosity got to him and the others stayed quiet. Naruto surprised that they actually wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Orochimaru, Akatsuki and even Sasuke's Taka teammates are all gone because of him. He might have had the intention of hurting the village, but he didn't know the whole trust about the situation and when he got it, he stepped away from Konoha and stopped helping Orochimaru from destroying us all.

"And the reason he took me away was because the other villages were curious about the power I have inside me. They wanted to attack the village and get everyone distracted so they could come after me and try to use the power that I possess for their own advantage," Naruto finally took in a breath and looked straight into all of the elders eyes. He didn't want them to question anything that he said even if some of it might be partly false.

"That would make sense because we saw how many villages tried to go look for Uzumaki-san after they learned that he had been kidnapped from the village," Tsunade added in, helping Naruto with some of the thrusts that he didn't know about.

Naruto looked over at her with wide eyes, but made sure to look away before anyone noticed the exchange. He couldn't believe that that had been going on while he was gone.

"We have not heard of anything from the villages about going after Naruto until after he was taken. How can we trust that what you say is true?" an elder countered not wanting to believe what Naruto was telling them. "You can't just expect us to trust the words of a lowly ninja."

Tsunade breathed deeply trying to keep her calm. These were the same people who became frightened at the thought of Naruto not protecting them. And their village would be in greater danger without him and they now had the audacity to turn it around and make Naruto into a no name ninja.

"How dare you speak that way to him," Tsunade began, keeping the calmer voice she could muster. "How would it look to the villagers if the elders were to disagree with the next Rokudaime Hokage?" she questioned them all having already decided long ago that Naruto would be her successor.

"You aren't serious about this are you?" the elders replied.

"Of course I am. You knew it before he left and you know it now. Do the elders want to look unfavorable towards the next Hokage even before he is to take up his rein?" Tsunade asked again now knowing that they couldn't because the villagers were more with Naruto than they ever were before.

In just the hours that Naruto had been back, the village had increased its confidence in their leaders greatly. Everyone in the room, aside from Naruto himself, knew that and she wasn't about to let anyone think that Naruto was nothing.

All their expression were that of anger, but they knew they could do nothing about it. If Naruto was to be opposed of them, then the villagers would also likely oppose them too. After all these years he had grown in popularity and the respect that they have in him is greater than that of the village elders. They couldn't lose him over something like this and if Naruto said the Uchiha boy did everything in the name of Konoha then they had no reason to fight it.

"Alright, we will all agree to have Uchiha Sasuke be set free after he is recovered. If the boy causes any trouble in the future he will be punished with imprisonment." Both nodded slowly at the words.

"If there is nothing more, we will be on our way," the elders left after and both Tsunade and Naruto let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Did you mean it Baa-chan?" Naruto asked turning this head back to her once his heart calmed down from the whole ordeal with the elders.

"Yes I did Naruto. The villagers and ninja community have great respect and confidence that you will protect them all. Are you willing to become the next Hokage and rule over Konohagakure?" Tsunade asked before she got an armful of Naruto.

"Of course I am. I can't believe that I'm getting this opportunity. Thank you so much!" Naruto told her, not believing that his dream would come true after everything that had happened.

Tsunade smiled and let out a chuckle, "The decision was made a long time ago, I'm just now able to voice my request to you. You will have to work hard for it though. This is no easy task."

"I know, I know. I will work my hardest. I have to get my body stronger, not having trained to my fullest for a couple of years kind of set me back a bit but no worries I will be great in no time," he excitingly spoke while flexing his muscles.

Tsunade smiled at Naruto's antics, she was happy to see that his demeanor did not change much after all this time.

~oOo~

Blinking his eyes a few times, Sasuke was first hit with bright lights. _"Ah, damn where am I?" _Sasuke questioned while trying to get his eyes to focus.

Finally able to look around, Sasuke saw that he was in a hospital and than looked outside the window only to see the Hokage Mountain telling him that he was indeed back in Konoha.

"I never thought I would be back here alive," Sasuke said, thinking he was all alone and was startled when he heard another voice.

"But I'm glad to see that you are," the voice responded to Sasuke's words.

"Kakashi? Why am I here and not in prison like I should be or at least bound to the bed?" asked Sasuke while sitting up from his bed.

"Nice to see you again too." Kakashi chuckled when Sasuke slightly glared, but then nodded to him in acknowledgment. "That was all Naruto's doing, he wouldn't let them take you because he said you did nothing wrong. He had told the elders you did everything to protect Naruto and the village," Kakashi answered recalling what Tsunade had told him when he went to her office a couple of days ago.

"But that's a lie, why would they believe him?" Sasuke questioned knowing that he only took Naruto so they could be together. He could care less what happened to the village, back than and still doesn't care that much now.

Kakashi smirked, "Tsunade-sama said that if they don't believe him than it will look poorly on them to distrust the next Hokage."

"Is he really going to be the next Hokage? I can't believe it," Sasuke said softly as a smile appeared on his lips. He was proud of Naruto and hoped that he could tell him that whenever he sees him next.

With a stilled breath, Sasuke looked over at Kakashi and saw that his covered expression was a happy one. "Why are you okay with me being here? You should all hate me, especially for taking Naruto away from the village," Sasuke asked his old sensei.

"I knew why you did it from the start and though it wasn't the smarted thing to do love is powerful and can make sane people do crazy things. With the way you are, I could imagine that taking him looked like the only way you could be together. Plus Naruto words turned everyone around into believing that you were at least worth keeping around." Kakashi said reflecting on the talk Naruto and all his friends and sensei's had.

_**Flashback**_

"_We are all happy that you are back Naruto and that you are willing to forgive Sasuke-san, but you can't expect us to feel the same way. Taking you away because he wanted to be with you is a sorry excuse for almost killing a large number of our ninjas and putting your life in danger as well as the villages," Iruka said as he questioned Naruto's decisions._

_It had been a few day since they came back and he wanted to speak to everyone properly. Almost all the members of the team that came looking for him, including Iruka were there. The only one not present being Sakura._

"_I know you guys can't forgive him like I did, but please just listen to me. I don't want there to be tension when he wakes up and starts to live his life in the village," Naruto started, but was again interrupted by one of his friends._

"_What? So he won't be punished for anything he did? How is that reasonable?" Kiba asked as some of the others murmured in agreement._

"_You really don't think he has suffered enough? He was drawn in by the power and thirst to get revenge on his brother, but it was all misleading. Sasuke didn't know what was really going on with his family and he did want he thought he had to. Wouldn't any of you go after someone you thought betraying your whole family?" Naruto spoke to them in a serious voice._

_They were all quite for a moment reflecting on what Naruto said, but he could tell that they were not fully satisfied with the answer. Iruka looked most of all willing to refuse the dark haired ninja that had hurt Naruto so much._

"_Fine. What happened in the past could be understood to an extent, but what about him kidnapping you and erasing your memory at that? He was under no influence to do any of that," Shikamaru added in looking for Naruto to explain those actions._

_Naruto became a little nervous when getting asked about the kidnapping, but he knew he had to answer them. For him it didn't feel like he was kidnapped from the village when he had remembered how all the villagers hated him and that made it easier for him to accept that he was gone for so long, but the others wouldn't know that if he kept quiet. Even if he did explain it, they might still not understand._

_Naruto already knew that everyone was aware of Sasuke's feelings for him, hopefully it would make it a little easier for them to accept Sasuke if they knew how Naruto felt._

"_Look, I know that it wasn't the best thing to do, but as dumb as it sounds love can make you do stupid things. Sasuke was still very much uncaring about the whole village, he didn't care who he hurt but he's better than that now. Even though he erased my memory, when I got it back everything stayed. I remember everything that we went though and all he showed me was unconditional love. _

"_He cared for me like no one had ever done before. I can't forget that and I can't leave him to be punished for that. I can't expect any of you to forgive Sasuke, but please just understand that I'm doing this because it feels right," Naruto finished as his eyes were becoming glossy trying to keep the tears in._

_**End Flashback**_

"And than everyone pretty much became putty in Naruto's hands," Kakashi chuckled remembering that no one protested after his speech. "I'm not sure that everyone will be nice towards you, but there shouldn't be any open hostility either. You are really lucky to have someone like Naruto."

Looking back outside Sasuke was surprised and happy to hear that Naruto did so much for him. _"I'm just hoping he's doing all this because he feels the same way about me as I do about him," _came the thought toSasuke.

"Yes, I know. Thanks for telling me Kakashi," Sasuke told his old sensei as he looked back at him.

Just than the door opened to reveal Naruto. Sasuke couldn't speak as he looked up on the person he loved for so long. He also wasn't sure what to say right than.

"I'll be going now," Kakashi announced to deaf ears.

"Hey Sasuke. How are you feeling?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face.

"I'm so sorry Naruto. I know you can't even begin to forgive me, but please just don't hate me," Sasuke said with worry in his voice as he got nervous from Naruto's smiling face.

It looked too caring and even though Kakashi told him that Naruto wanted the others to not feel tense around him, he still wasn't sure of Naruto's feelings towards him.

Naruto walked over to Sasuke and sat on the bed, which shut Sasuke up from saying anything else that would have come to mind.

"Sasuke, calm down. No matter what happens I could never hate you, so don't ever say that," he told Sasuke.

Naruto became more courageous and moved closer to Sasuke wrapping his arms around the boy on the bed.

"I know what you did was not good, but I wouldn't take back that time we had together. Please don't be so nervous when you're around me," Naruto pulled away to see that Sasuke was still when Naruto had hugged him.

He was becoming worried that something was wrong and was about to get up and get a nurse when Sasuke suddenly pulled him back down and hugged him tight.

"I'm so happy," was all Sasuke could say as his hug was becoming like a desperate connection that he was afraid of losing.

In reality he was just afraid of losing Naruto and this becoming a dream of some kind. When he first took Naruto, he hoped that they would live happily together as long as they could and if someone was to catch them then Sasuke would be gone from Naruto's life forever. He never expected to be here in Konoha in Naruto arms. It was more than he could hope for and though it won't be so easy to be back, he was happy to have Naruto with him.

The two started talking about everything that happened since they had come back to the village, including the encounters with all of Naruto's friends, what happened with the elders and Lady Tsunade crowning him with the spot for the next Hokage. Naruto tried to go in as much detail as he could for the most part.

He wasn't so sure what he should say about Sakura and Sasuke could tell that Naruto was passing the encounter by quickly, but decided not to press the matter. Hopefully Naruto would tell him what happened soon or later. He knew of Sakura's feeling and she wouldn't simply say hello and be on her way.

As the two continued to talk about everything he started wondering how so much could have happened in such a short time and when he questioned it Naruto looked at him funny.

"This didn't happen over a course of a couple of days Sasuke. It's already been two weeks since we came back. Did they not tell you how long you have been out?" Naruto asked as he realized that Kakashi was absolutely useless in that department.

"T-Two weeks. How could I have been unconscious for so long?" Sasuke replied trying to figure out if the fight had really been that hard on him.

"Sasuke, they all used everything they had against you and from what I heard you weren't trying all that hard when you were fighting them. Why would you not fight full out?" Naruto told him remembering that the others were a little angry over that fact.

"I didn't want to hurt any of them. They are your friends and I told myself that if we were found than I would be gone from your life. There was no need to bring anyone else down with me," Sasuke trustfully spoke looking over at Naruto's shocked face.

"Wha-What? I thought you didn't care for them," Naruto wondered making sure he heard right.

"I care about you and you care about them. I wasn't going to kill them and have you hate me for another reason," Sasuke said as he turned his head away with on a blush on his face.

Naruto smile was brighter than ever and as Sasuke turned back around wondering why Naruto hadn't said anything his lips were covered with the other boys.

"Sasuke. I really do love you," Naruto said chuckling when he saw Sasuke's cheeks become even redder.

Sasuke somewhat recovered and managed to say, "I love you too Naruto." They went back to kissing and as they were getting into more than they should on the hospital bed, the door opened.

As they turned their heads around to see who it was, the door shut right back really quickly.

"Sakura?" Naruto questioned thinking that he had seen pink before the door closed.

He got up ready to go after her, but was again stopped by Sasuke from going anywhere. Sasuke had his hand around Naruto's wrist and was looking out the window. "Please don't go after her," he said.

Naruto was conflicted about what to do until Sasuke looked up at him with hurt and slightly scared eyes. He stayed, but promised himself that he would talk to Sakura whenever he got the chance.

-o-

"Sakura-san, are you alright?" one of the nurses asked when they saw Sakura walked quickly down the hall with her head down and hands rubbing at her eyes.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Just had something in me eyes," Sakura lied to the nurse as she looked up and smiled lightly.

The nurse not wanting to pry when it was not her place too, left it at that and handed Sakura the files she had in her hands.

"Here is the report on Uchiha-san's condition. It seems that everything is alright and when he wakes up he should be free to go," she told her while Sakura opened the file she was handed and nodded to what the nurse was saying.

"I saw that he had woken up, would you go to his room and tell him he is free to go?" Sakura asked not waiting for an answer as she walked past the nurse and to her own office.

Sakura lightly heard a "Yes ma'am" as she stepped into the office and dropped the file on her desk. She sat heavily on her chair and tried to calm her racing heart and stop the tears that were ready to pour out, but it was too much for her.

"_I knew this would happen, but it so much harder to take when I see it right in front my face," _Sakura said to herselfhoping that the image of the two boys would leave her soon.

Sakura signed and was becoming more and more upset with herself over the whole sad situation, _"Naruto had just gotten back and I'm acting like a little brat. Get ahold of yourself, he needs his friends to be there for him. I can't continue acting like this."_

With her self talk over with, Sakura got up with more confidence then before and left her dark office. She didn't have the energy to turn on the light when she first walked in.

As she walked down the hall again heading towards the room as she was before, she just hoped that she didn't walk in on them again. This time, being smarter about the situation, Sakura knocked on the door. She heard Sasuke tell her to come in and when she opened the door, she found that he was alone.

"Where's Naruto?" she asked trying to keep her voice sounding somewhat nice, but realized she failed when Sasuke glared at her, "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

Sakura heard him sigh and wasn't expecting an answer when he surprised her by doing just the opposite.

"It's fine. I can understand the hostility, especially coming from you," Sasuke told her in a voice she never heard from him.

It was mature and not edged with hate or disinterest as it used to be whenever she had come in contact with him before. He was also looking at her with different eyes; no glare to be seen.

"Naruto's getting the paper work ready for me. The nurse just came in and told us that I can leave whenever it's done," Sasuke said and became quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "Naruto told me you helped me after I passed out, so thank you."

She looked at him in shock and came a realization that she was now more okay with everything, "You really love him, don't you?"

He looked over at her and smiled softly, "Yeah, I really do."

Sakura was happy to hear that Naruto was going to be in good hands. Though Sasuke had done a lot of bad, if there was anyone who could love him and protect him it was the person right in front of her.

"You better not hurt him or I will kill you," Sakura warned being completely serious even as she heard Sasuke chuckle.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sasuke told her as the door opened and Naruto walked in.

He stopped as he saw Sakura standing a couple of feet away from the bed and both of them with a small smile on their faces.

"Sakura, I'm-" Naruto was interrupted by her before he could properly apologize for what she saw. He wasn't regretting what he did, but when she left it seemed that he had hurt her without meaning to.

"Don't worry about it Naruto. You have nothing to be sorry for. I should apologize for the way I talked to you before. It was wrong of me and I'm sorry," Sakura interrupted before she found Naruto walking up to her and hugged her tighter than he had the first time they talked.

Stepping back, she saw Naruto smile and felt the urge to kiss him, but since she just patched things up with Sasuke, she didn't think that would go over so well with anyone.

"I'm glad to see you happy again, I was beginning to worry that I did something wrong and also I'm sorry that you walked in on, you know _that_," Naruto told her with slight nervousness in his voice and blush on his face.

"It's alright Naruto. Sasuke and I talked and we have come to an understanding. I wish the best of luck for the both of you. I should be heading back to work, see you guys later." As Sakura left, Sasuke had gotten off the bed and wrapped his arms around Naruto.

He was startled for a second before remembering who was in the room with him. Naruto turned his body around and embraced Sasuke.

"Thanks for whatever you said. She seems a lot better than the last time I talked to her," Naruto said as his arms tighten around Sasuke's neck and he buried his face into Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke's arms also tightened around Naruto's waist and put his chin on Naruto's head happy to stay in that position for a little longer.

"You really are staying by my side," Sasuke finally spoke reassuring himself of the fact.

Naruto smiled and looked into his eyes, "I promised, didn't I?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Thanks for reading!<strong>


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